Contrastive, Non-Probabilistic Statistical Explanations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10707397 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bruce Glymour (Kansas State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 448-471 |
| Publication date | 1998-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8248 • E-ISSN: 1539-767X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1086/392656 |
| OpenAlex | W2064842861 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 13 |
Standard models of statistical explanation face two intractable difficulties. In his 1984 Salmon argues that because statistical explanations are essentially probabilistic we can make sense of statistical explanation only by rejecting the intuition that scientific explanations are contrastive. Further, frequently the point of a statistical explanation is to identify the etiology of its explanandum, but on standard models probabilistic explanations often fail to do so. This paper offers an alternative conception of statistical explanations on which explanations of the frequency of a property consist in the derivation of that frequency from a statistical specification of the mechanism by which instances of the relevant property are produced. Such explanations are contrastive precisely because they identify the determinate causal etiologies of their explananda
Econometrics · Epistemology · Intuition · Null hypothesis · Point (geometry) · Probabilistic logic · Property (philosophy) · Statistical analysis · Statistical evidence · Statistical model · Statistics · Artificial Intelligence · Bayesian Modeling and Causal Inference · Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies · Computer Science · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
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On price risk and the inverse farm size-productivity relationship
The role of contrast in causal and explanatory claims
A Deductive-Nomological Model of Probabilistic Explanation
Causality Without Counterfactuals
Fertility, Family, and Social Policy in Contemporary Western Europe
The scientific image
| Citations per year | 0.15 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1999 - 2019 (21) |
| Highly cited | No |