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Solving the Flagpole Problem

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An Erratum to this article was published on 13 August 2015

Abstract

In this paper I demonstrate that the causal structure of flagpole-like systems can be determined by application of causal graph theory. Additional information about the ordering of events in time or about how parameters of the systems of interest can be manipulated is not needed.

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Notes

  1. In Sect. 1 I promised to solve the flagpole problem (i.e., to infer the causal structure of the flagpole scenario on the basis of a given probability distribution) without reference to interventions. However, interventions are not used in determining the causal structure of the flagpole scenario and thus, the use of interventions in motivating the dependence/independence relations in P is harmless in regard to this promise.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by DFG, research unit Causation | Laws | Dispositions | Explanation (FOR 1063). My thanks go to Stathis Psillos as well as to two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and to my PhD advisor Gerhard Schurz for his great support. Thanks also to Christian J. Feldbacher and Alexander G. Mirnig for constructive criticism of an earlier version of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Düsseldorf Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (DCLPS), Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Alexander Gebharter

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  1. Alexander Gebharter
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Correspondence to Alexander Gebharter.

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10838-015-9311-y.

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Gebharter, A. Solving the Flagpole Problem. J Gen Philos Sci 44, 63–67 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-013-9208-6

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