Dear all,

We will have our next LIRa session on Thursday, 26 October 16:30.

This will be a hybrid session. If you want to attend online, please use our recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09 (Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)

You can find the details of the talk below.

Speaker: Fausto Barbero (University of Helsinki)

Date and Time: Thursday, October 26th 2023, 16:30-18:00

Venue: ILLC seminar room F1.15 in Science Park 107 and online

Title: Generalizations of causal models

Abstract. A popular approach to the study of causation in the sciences and in philosophy makes use of structural equation models to encode causal assumptions. Such models can be used to assign a meaning to interventionist counterfactuals, which are expressions of the form "If variables X1 ... Xn were set to values x1 ... xn, then phi would hold" to which many notions of causation can be reduced.

After presenting the basic ideas of this framework, I will consider some of the directions in which it can be generalized, in particular by developing connections with ideas from team semantics. These generalizations involve the interaction of causation with other concepts such as uncertainty, learning, and dependence; but also natural extensions of the notion of causation, such as indeterministic causal laws and indeterminate interventions.

Along the way, I will present the results obtained (with various coauthors) and ongoing work about generalized logics of interventionist counterfactuals, in the contexts of deterministic, probabilistic and qualitatively indeterministic causation.

Hope to see you there!

The LIRa team