Measuring Causal Invariance Formally

Entropy 23 (6):690 (2021)
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Abstract

Invariance is one of several dimensions of causal relationships within the interventionist account. The more invariant a relationship between two variables, the more the relationship should be considered paradigmatically causal. In this paper, I propose two formal measures to estimate invariance, illustrated by a simple example. I then discuss the notion of invariance for causal relationships between non-nominal (i.e., ordinal and quantitative) variables, for which Information theory, and hence the formalism proposed here, is not well suited. Finally, I propose how invariance could be qualified for such variables.

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Pierrick Bourrat
Macquarie University

Citations of this work

Adding causality to the information-theoretic perspective on individuality.Pierrick Bourrat - 2024 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 14 (1):1-16.

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References found in this work

The Central Dogma as a Thesis of Causal Specificity.Marcel Weber - 2006 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 28 (4):595-610.
Variation of information as a measure of one-to-one causal specificity.Pierrick Bourrat - 2018 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1):1-18.
Variation of information as a measure of one-to-one causal specificity.Pierrick Bourrat - 2018 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1):11.

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