A Modification of the Halpern-Pearl Definition of Causality
This work addresses foundational problems in causal inference for researchers in AI and philosophy, but it is incremental as it builds on prior definitions.
The paper tackles issues in the Halpern-Pearl definition of causality by proposing a modification that simplifies the definition, resolves known problems, and reduces complexity.
The original Halpern-Pearl definition of causality [Halpern and Pearl, 2001] was updated in the journal version of the paper [Halpern and Pearl, 2005] to deal with some problems pointed out by Hopkins and Pearl [2003]. Here the definition is modified yet again, in a way that (a) leads to a simpler definition, (b) handles the problems pointed out by Hopkins and Pearl, and many others, (c) gives reasonable answers (that agree with those of the original and updated definition) in the standard problematic examples of causality, and (d) has lower complexity than either the original or updated definitions.