•  869
    Simpson's Paradox and Causality
    with Prasanta S. Bandyopadhyay, Mark Greenwood, and Venkata Raghavan
    American Philosophical Quarterly 52 (1): 13-25. 2015.
    There are three questions associated with Simpson’s Paradox (SP): (i) Why is SP paradoxical? (ii) What conditions generate SP?, and (iii) What should be done about SP? By developing a logic-based account of SP, it is argued that (i) and (ii) must be divorced from (iii). This account shows that (i) and (ii) have nothing to do with causality, which plays a role only in addressing (iii). A counterexample is also presented against the causal account. Finally, the causal and logic-based approaches ar…Read more
  •  296
    Truths about Simpson's Paradox - Saving the Paradox from Falsity
    with Prasanta S. Bandyopadhyay, Venkata Raghavan, and Gordon Brittain Jr
    In M. Banerjee & S. N. Krishna (eds.), LNCS 8923, . pp. 58-75. 2015.
    There are three questions associated with Simpson’s paradox (SP): (i) Why is SP paradoxical? (ii) What conditions generate SP? and (iii) How to proceed when confronted with SP? An adequate analysis of the paradox starts by distinguishing these three questions. Then, by developing a formal account of SP, and substantiating it with a counterexample to causal accounts, we argue that there are no causal factors at play in answering questions (i) and (ii). Causality enters only in connection with act…Read more
  •  291
    We address the need for a model by considering two competing theories regarding the origin of life: (i) the Metabolism First theory, and (ii) the RNA World theory. We discuss two interrelated points, namely: (i) Models are valuable tools for understanding both the processes and intricacies of origin-of-life issues, and (ii) Insights from models also help us to evaluate the core objection to origin-of-life theories, called “the inefficiency objection”, which is commonly raised by proponents of bo…Read more
  •  154
    Lost in Translation? The Upaniṣadic Story about “Da” and Interpretational Issues in Analytic Philosophy
    with Prasanta S. Bandyopadhyay and Venkata Raghavan
    Apa Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies 2 (14): 15-18. 2015.
    In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, one of the principal Upaniṣads, we find a venerable and famous story where the god Prajāpati separately instructs three groups of people (gods, humans, and demons) simply by uttering the syllable “Da.” In this paper, our concern is not with ethics but theories of meaning and interpretation: How can all divergent interpretations of a single expression be correct, and, indeed, endorsed by the speaker? As an exercise in cross-cultural philosophical reflection, we cons…Read more