The paper proposes an overview on the main logical problems of counterfactual sentences and a review of the main uses of such conditional within the legal context. Particularly relevant is the usage of such sentences in causal judgments framed by legal agents: in such a context, two widely used criteria for verifying the causal nexus in the legal domain (the but-for test and the NESS test) are examined. The connection between causal conditional and material conditional, underlying the mentioned criteria, is also scrutinized. The paper shows the difficulties in upholding such tests, and shows the logical indeterminacy of the purported implication between causal and material conditionals.
Los contrafácticos en el derecho. Un inventario de problemas
RATTI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA
2014-01-01
Abstract
The paper proposes an overview on the main logical problems of counterfactual sentences and a review of the main uses of such conditional within the legal context. Particularly relevant is the usage of such sentences in causal judgments framed by legal agents: in such a context, two widely used criteria for verifying the causal nexus in the legal domain (the but-for test and the NESS test) are examined. The connection between causal conditional and material conditional, underlying the mentioned criteria, is also scrutinized. The paper shows the difficulties in upholding such tests, and shows the logical indeterminacy of the purported implication between causal and material conditionals.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
