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Linglib.Phenomena.Conditionals.Studies.CiardelliZhangChampollion2018Lumping

@cite{ciardelli-zhang-champollion-2018} switches under @cite{kratzer-2012} lumping CF #

Companion to Phenomena/Conditionals/Studies/CiardelliZhangChampollion2018.lean (which formalizes CZC's argument against minimal-change semantics) and to Phenomena/Conditionals/Studies/Kratzer2012Lumping.lean (which formalizes the §5.4.4 lumping CF on the Paula apple-buying scenario). This file applies the lumping CF to CZC's switches scenario and proves it has a different failure pattern than minimal-change CF.

The result: asymmetric failure across operators #

| Operator                          | aDn > OFF | bDn > OFF | ¬(A∧B) > OFF |
| --------------------------------- | --------- | --------- | ------------ |
| Empirics (Tables 7–8)             | TRUE 78%  | TRUE 76%  | FALSE 20%    |
| Lewis/Stalnaker minimal-change    | TRUE ✓    | TRUE ✓    | TRUE ✗       |
| Kratzer 2012 lumping CF           | FALSE ✗   | FALSE ✗   | FALSE ✓      |

Lewis fails on the disjunctive antecedent (CiardelliZhangChampollion2018.minimal_change_forces_notBothUp_off plus notBothUp_off_at_uu makes this concrete). Lumping fails on simple antecedents (this file: not_wouldCF_aDn_lightOff and not_wouldCF_bDn_lightOff). And lumping correctly predicts the disjunctive case false (not_wouldCF_notBothUp_lightOff) — though for the same structural reason it gets the simple ones wrong.

Neither operator predicts all three correctly. This is a genuine theoretical incompatibility — exactly the kind that the linglib "interconnection density" goal exists to surface.

Why the asymmetry #

Lewis CF restricts to the closest antecedent-worlds. For aDn > OFF: the closest aDn-world to uu is du (Hamming distance 1), where lightOff holds. For ¬(A∧B) > OFF: the closest are {ud, du}, both lightOff. Lewis correctly predicts the simple ones; the disjunctive prediction inherits CZC §1.2's structural failure.

Lumping CF considers all consistent extensions of the antecedent within an admissible Base Set. With aDn as antecedent at uu: any consistent extension that includes aDn is compatible with both du-style and dd-style worlds (since aDn ∩ Worlds = {du, dd}). Follows {aDn} lightOff therefore fails, since dd is an aDn-world where lightOff is false (both switches down → light on by the wiring). Without a closest-worlds restriction, lumping has no way to break the du/dd symmetry on the simple counterfactuals.

The symmetric upside: lumping correctly predicts ¬(A∧B) > OFF false, because Follows {notBothUp} lightOff also fails (again dd blocks).

Formalization #

We use the worlds-only switches model lifted to a SituationFrame via Frame.toDiscreteSituationFrame. Under discrete parthood, Core.Logic.Intensional.Lumping.Lumps.discrete_iff reduces lumping to joint truth at w. This gives a clean (if degenerate) lumping behavior: every fact true at uu lumps every other fact true at uu, so the Crucial Set's lumping-closure clause forces any Crucial Set member containing a Base-Set element to contain all Base-Set elements — which is incompatible with the counterfactual antecedent.

Therefore every Crucial Set in this model collapses to the singleton {antecedent}, and wouldCF reduces to Follows {antecedent} consequent, i.e., "every antecedent-world satisfies the consequent."

Scope and caveats #

This is the worlds-only model (no proper partial situations beyond worlds-as-themselves). A more sophisticated partial-situation model with the wiring law as a @cite{kratzer-2012} §5.5 non-accidental generalization (rather than a contingent member of Fw) might ameliorate the asymmetry. We do not explore that here.

Fw₀ choice: we use the empty Base Set. The result generalizes — for any Base Set choice including the wiring law and the actual switch positions, the same dd-blocking argument forces Follows {aDn} lightOff false (since aDn ∩ Worlds = {du, dd} regardless of Fw). The empty Base Set keeps the proofs direct.

The switches model #

The four switch-position worlds (same as CiardelliZhangChampollion2018.World; renamed locally to avoid namespace ambiguity).

  • uu : World

    A up, B up — actual world; light on.

  • ud : World

    A up, B down — light off.

  • du : World

    A down, B up — light off.

  • dd : World

    A down, B down — light on.

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      @[implicit_reducible]

      Discrete partial order on worlds: s ≤ t ↔ s = t. (Worlds-only model — no proper sub-situations.)

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      The switches frame promoted to a SituationFrame with discrete parthood.

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        Propositions #

        Truth-makers at the worlds-only level (every world supports its own positive facts; nothing else).

        "Switch A is up."

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          "Switch A is down."

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            "Switch B is up."

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              "Switch B is down."

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                "At least one switch is down" (= ¬(A ∧ B)).

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                  "The light is on" (per the wiring law, holds iff both switches in the same position).

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                    "The light is off."

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                      Worlds (maximal situations) #

                      Under the discrete order, every world is maximal.

                      The Crucial Set collapses to a singleton #

                      For any antecedent p not true at uu and any non-empty Base Set Fw₀ ⊆ {q : Set World | uu ∈ q}, the discrete-parthood lumping closure forces every Crucial Set member containing one Fw element to contain all of them — and that union is inconsistent with p. So the only consistent lumping-closed Crucial Set member is {p} itself.

                      For our negative result we use Fw₀ = ∅, which trivializes the lumping closure further: the only Crucial Set member is {p} because there are no Fw elements to add.

                      With an empty Base Set, the Crucial Set for any antecedent consistent at some world reduces to the singleton {antecedent}.

                      The asymmetric failure: lumping CF on the simple antecedents #

                      The headline result. wouldCF Fw₀ uu aDn lightOff is false — empirically the wrong prediction. The reason: Follows {aDn} lightOff fails because the world dd satisfies aDn but not lightOff (both switches down means the light is on by the wiring).

                      Witnesses of antecedent consistency (for the Crucial Set proofs) #

                      The three headline theorems #

                      Lumping CF (with empty Fw₀) predicts false for all three counterfactuals. The first two are empirically wrong (lumping's failure); the third is empirically right (lumping's lucky catch).

                      Lumping CF wrongly predicts aDn > OFF false (empirically ~78% true). The dd-world (both switches down → light on) satisfies the antecedent but not the consequent, blocking the Follows step that the singleton Crucial Set demands.

                      Lumping CF correctly predicts ¬(A ∧ B) > OFF false (empirically ~20% true, i.e., not-true). Same structural reason as the simple cases — the dd-world blocks Follows.

                      The asymmetry, formally #

                      Pulling the three predictions together with the CiardelliZhangChampollion2018 results: lumping and minimal-change operators fail on disjoint subsets of the switches counterfactuals.

                      Asymmetric failure: lumping CF and minimal-change CF have disjoint failure modes on switches. Lumping is wrong on the simple antecedents (this file's not_wouldCF_aDn_lightOff / not_wouldCF_bDn_lightOff); minimal-change is wrong on the disjunctive antecedent (CZC2018's notBothUp_off_at_uu predicts true, contrary to empirics).

                      Statement form: lumping CF predicts aDn > OFF false (empirically wrong), AND lumping CF predicts notBothUp > OFF false (empirically right). The contrast with minimal-change is that minimal-change predicts aDn > OFF true and notBothUp > OFF true; the empirics are true / false.