Counterfactuals and modality

Counterfactuals

Counterfactuals arc a form of commonsense non-monotonic inference that has been of long-term interest to philosophers. In this paper, we begin by describing some of the impact counterfactuals can be exported to have in artif icial intelligence, and by reviewing briefly some of the philosophical conclusions which have been drawn about them. Philosophers have noted that the content of any particu...

Causation, Action and Counterfactuals

The central aim of many empirical studies in the physical, behavioral, social, and biological sciences is the elucidation of cause-effect relationships among variables. It is through causeeffect relationships that we obtain a sense of a "deep understanding" of a given phenomenon, and it is through such relationships that we obtain a sense of being "in control," namely, that we are able to shape...

Intertranslating Counterfactuals and Updates

We recall that the Ramsey Rule can be seen as axiomatising the relationship of inverse accessibility relations which exists between the notions of update and counterfactual conditional. We use this fact to translate between postulates for updates and postulates for counterfactuals. Thus, Katsuno/Mendelzon's postulates U1{U8 are translated into counterfactual postulates C1{C8 (theorem 6), and ma...

Dopamine: Context and counterfactuals.

Dopamine and Reward Prediction Errors How does the brain learn what feels good? How does it adapt to new foods, bad bets, and played-out songs? How is it tricked into wanting ever-increasing doses of heroin or cocaine? Is there a simple rule that links neural signaling to the fundamental approach and avoidance responses on which more complex behavior is built? It is now almost 20 y since Schult...

Harm, History, and Counterfactuals