Reichenbach's paradise : constructing the realm of probabilstic common "causes" / Leszek Wroński; managing editor, Anna Michalska; language editor Sara Tavares.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wronski, Leszek, author.

Contributor:

Michalska, Anna, editor.

Tavares, Sara, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reichenbach, Hans, 1891-1953.

Reichenbach, Hans.

Causation.

Philosophy (General).

Probabilities. Mathematical statistics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 113 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Warsaw, [Poland] ; Berlin, [Germany] : De Gruyter Open, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Since its introduction by Hans Reichenbach, many philosophers have claimed to refute the idea - known as the common cause principle - that any surprising correlation between any two factors that do not directly influence one another is due to some common cause. For example, falsity of the principle is frequently inferred from falsifiability of Bell's inequalities. The author demonstrates, however, that the situation is not so straightforward. There is more than one version of the principle formulated with the use of different variants of Reichenbach-inspired notions; their falsity still remains an open question. The book traces different formulations of the principle and provides proofs of a few pertinent theorems, settling the relevant questions in various probability spaces. In exploring mathematical and philosophical issues surrounding the principle, the book offers both philosophical insight and mathematical rigor.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures / List of Tables

Acknowledgments / Introduction

1 The Principle of the Common Cause: Its Shapes and Content

2 Screening Off and Explanation: Formal Properties

3 The Principle of the Common Cause and the Bell Inequalities

4 The Principle of the Common Cause and the Causal Markov Condition

5 Causal Closedness

6 Causal Completability

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This eBook is made available Open Access. Unless otherwise specified individually in the content, the work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed May 28, 2015).

ISBN:

3-11-039934-2

OCLC:

1002231623