# Causes and Explanations: A Structural-Model Approach --- Part 1: Causes

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.2275 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1301.2275/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 10 Jan 2013.

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Explanations for Automatic Speech Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.14062/) (2023)
- [Explaining Causal Models with Argumentation: the Case of Bi-variate Reinforcement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11589/) (2022)
- [Counterfactuals Modulo Temporal Logics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.08916/) (2023)
- [Embracing Background Knowledge in the Analysis of Actual Causality: An Answer Set Programming Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03874/) (2023)
- [Actual causality in fault trees](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.01840/) (2026)
- [Can We Trust LLM's Logic? Quantifying Uncertainty, Coherence, and Robustness via a Graph-Based Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.08017/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose a new definition of actual causes, using structural equations to model counterfactuals.We show that the definitions yield a plausible and elegant account ofcausation that handles well examples which have caused problems forother definitions and resolves major difficulties in the traditionalaccount. In a companion paper, we show how the definition of causality can beused to give an elegant definition of (causal) explanation.