A counterfactual is a human-made cognitive operation that supposes alternatives to actual events. Its parameters include: (1) counterfactuality — the antecedent condition is known or believed to be false; (2) suppositional reasoning — the mind holds a hypothetical scenario as if it were real; (3) causal or evaluative purpose — used to determine cause-effect relationships, learn from outcomes, plan alternatives, or assess regret. Counterfactuals persist through language (conditionals like "if only..."), formal logic (modal reasoning), legal analysis (but-for causation), and scientific method (counterfactual testing). [formal: counterfactual | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
counterfactual
A counterfactual is a human-made cognitive operation that supposes alternatives to actual events. Its parameters include: (1) counterfactuality — the antecedent condition is known or believed to be false; (2) suppositional reasoning — the…
Definition
Why it is in scope
Human-made cognitive operation of supposing alternatives to actual events — reasoning about what would have happened if conditions had been different. Counterfactuals are human-made: they are structured imaginings that simulate non-actual scenarios for purposes of causal reasoning, learning, planning, and explanation.
Names and aliases
- counterfactualen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrn7264v01yld1nlaqdfs31yDEPENDS_ON →
Counterfactual reasoning requires causal understanding to operate — 'what if X had not happened?' only makes sense when there is a causal model to disrupt. Remove causation and counterfactual thinking collapses into arbitrary speculation.
- cmrehxu7v00icg8vuydh7tny5INSTANCE_OF →
Counterfactual IS a type of reasoning: its definition includes 'suppositional reasoning' as a core parameter. A counterfactual is a cognitive operation that supposes alternatives — it is a specific kind of reasoning process, not merely dependent on it. Direction: specific (counterfactual) → general (reasoning), consistent with Law 9.
Relations to this entry
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Record identity
- Created
- Jul 21, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC
- Content hash
- d35d6c2814f14168b7009fc0eb53c308ec21b47900b07d85a285cad5358b95bd