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How Everyone Can Have a Rare Property: Response to Sober on Frequency-Dependent Causation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Deborah G. Mayo
Deborah G. Mayo*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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Abstract

In a recent discussion note Sober (1985) elaborates on the argument given in Sober (1982) to show the inadequacy of Ronald Giere's (1979, 1980) causal model for cases of frequency-dependent causation, and denies that Giere's (1984) response avoids the problem he raises. I argue that frequency-dependent effects do not pose a problem for Giere's original causal model, and that all parties in this dispute have been guity of misinterpreting the counterfactual populations involved in applying Giere's model.

Type
Discussion
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , June 1987 , pp. 266 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

I am deeply grateful to Ronald Giere for valuable discussions. I thank Norman Gilinsky and George Chatfield for useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

References

REFERENCES

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