What does counterfactual mean in philosophy?
Counterfactual thinking is a concept in psychology that involves the human tendency to create possible alternatives to life events that have already occurred; something that is contrary to what actually happened. Counterfactual thinking is, as it states: “counter to the facts”.
How do you explain counterfactual?
A counterfactual explanation describes a causal situation in the form: “If X had not occurred, Y would not have occurred”. For example: “If I hadn’t taken a sip of this hot coffee, I wouldn’t have burned my tongue”. Event Y is that I burned my tongue; cause X is that I had a hot coffee.
What is a counterfactual theory?
The basic idea of counterfactual theories of causation is that the meaning of causal claims can be explained in terms of counterfactual conditionals of the form “If A had not occurred, C would not have occurred”. The best-known counterfactual analysis of causation is David Lewis’s (1973b) theory.
What is factual and counterfactual?
As adjectives the difference between counterfactual and factual. is that counterfactual is contrary to the facts; untrue while factual is of or characterised by or consisting of facts.
Are counterfactuals real?
Counterfactuals were first discussed by Nelson Goodman as a problem for the material conditional used in classical logic. Because of these problems, early work such as that of W.V. Quine held that counterfactuals aren’t strictly logical, and do not make true or false claims about the world.
Can you prove a counterfactual?
A counterfactual conditional cannot be evaluated as a truth-functional conditional, since a truth-functional conditional with false antecedent is ipso facto true. So is it necessary to provide a logical analysis of the truth conditions of counterfactuals if they are to be useful in rigorous thought.
What is a counterfactual claim?
counterfactual (plural counterfactuals) A claim, hypothesis, or other belief that is contrary to the facts. A hypothetical state of the world, used to assess the impact of an action. quotations ▼ (linguistics, philosophy) A conditional statement in which the conditional clause is false.
Do possible worlds exist?
Possible worlds exist – they are just as real as our world; Possible worlds are the same sort of things as our world – they differ in content, not in kind; Possible worlds cannot be reduced to something more basic – they are irreducible entities in their own right. Actuality is indexical.
What is nomic dependence?
The paper proposes an explication of causation in terms of laws and their explanatory systematization. A basic notion is “nomic dependence”. a set of laws, each well instantiated and applying in virtue of one of the set of properties which jointly mark the uniqueness of the cause.
What does counterfactually mean?
counterfactual – going counter to the facts (usually as a hypothesis) contrary to fact. conditional – imposing or depending on or containing a condition; “conditional acceptance of the terms”; “lent conditional support”; “the conditional sale will not be complete until the full purchase price is paid”.
What is counterfactual thinking?
Counterfactual thinking. Counterfactual thinking is a concept in psychology that involves the human tendency to create possible alternatives to life events that have already occurred; something that is contrary to what actually happened. Counterfactual thinking is, as it states: “counter to the facts”.
What is counterfactual analysis?
Counterfactual analysis enables evaluators to attribute cause and effect between interventions and outcomes. The ‘counterfactual’ measures what would have happened to beneficiaries in the absence of the intervention, and impact is estimated by comparing counterfactual outcomes to those observed under the intervention.
What is a counterfactual conditional?
A counterfactual conditional (abbreviated CF), is a conditional with a false if-clause. The term “counterfactual conditional” was coined by Nelson Goodman in 1947, extending Roderick Chisholm ‘s (1946) notion of a “contrary-to-fact conditional”.
