Fang, Wei (2027) When Dependence Disappears: Faithfulness and Effective Independence in Nonlinear Dynamical Systems. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

This article argues that nonlinear dynamical systems provide a structural mechanism for (near-)unfaithfulness that has received little attention in philosophical discussions of causal discovery. In such systems, observable statistical relations arise from invariant-measure averaging over state-dependent causal effects. Because local causal influences vary across the system’s state space, their contributions may partially cancel, weakening statistical dependence between causally connected variables. The resulting “effective independence” can be empirically indistinguishable from genuine independence, posing challenges for dependence-based causal discovery methods.
Unlike classical violations that rely on parameter fine-tuning, this form of (near-)unfaithfulness arises from structural features of system dynamics.

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Fang, Wei wesleyfang@outlook.com 0000000198560599
Keywords:	faithfulness, independence, effective independence, nonlinear dynamical systems
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation
Depositing User:	Dr. Wei Fang
Date Deposited:	04 Jun 2026 13:59
Last Modified:	04 Jun 2026 13:59
Item ID:	29902
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation
Date:	2027
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29902

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