Causal and conditional inferences: a comment on Cummins (1995)
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Updated: Nov 1, 2026

Chronic Constriction of the Sciatic Nerve and Pain Hypersensitivity Testing in Rats
Published on: March 13, 2012
1University of Wolverhampton, England.
Abstract:
Cummins (1995) offers an analysis of causal and truth-functional sufficiency and necessity to predict and explain the effects on conditional inferences of two pragmatic factors: alternative causes and disabling conditions. However, the justification of these predictions is inconsistent. This note offers a modified analysis which puts her predictions on a sounder base: it is proposed that alternative causes and disabling conditions affect judgments of argument validity under three different models for the causal conditional.
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