In terms of the notion of a working causal route, Hitchcock describes genuine otherwise token causation regarding following terminology:
(10) If c and e are distinct actual events and X and Z are binary variables whose values represent the occurrence and non-occurrence of these events, then c is a cause of e if and only if there is an active causal route from X to Z in an appropriate causal model
Lewis resorts to help you quasi-dependency while the smashing of the bottles (e) will not counterfactually count on Suzys toss (c), because of what would possess happened had she not tossed (viz, Billys rock would have smashed the brand new bottle alternatively)
As previously mentioned, (10) doesnt deal with cases of shaped overdetermination given that when Suzy and you will Billy one another place its stones alone, each place is enough into bottles to split, and you can each other rocks strike the bottle thus neither throw preempts the fresh most other, due to the fact none toss is found on a working route just like the discussed in (9). To handle such as for example circumstances, Hitchcock weakens (10) because of the replacing the fresh ‘energetic channel 
in (10) for the concept of a weakly energetic channel (2001: 290). Many idea here that there’s an excellent weakly productive station ranging from X and you may Z simply when Z counterfactually relies on X under the cold of a few you can easily, not necessarily real, values of your details which aren’t to your station regarding X to help you Z. Naturally, to recoup counterfactual dependency ranging from Suzys place therefore the shattering we keep fixed BT = 0: got Suzy not tossed about design where Billy doesnt throw, the brand new package don’t have smashed. Likewise getting Billys toss.
The basic approach deployed here to cope with one another preemption and you may symmetric overdetermination carries an obvious resemblance to help you Lewiss quasi-reliance substitute for the fresh new later preemption state. elizabeth quasi-depends on c, but not, because one to inside a potential industry into same rules where the inherent reputation of your own procedure away from c in order to elizabeth is the identical but Billy doesnt throw, you have the expected counterfactual reliance. ‘Cold variables which are not built-in with the c-age processes on its genuine opinions (inside the later preemption circumstances) e.grams. freezing BH at 0 converts around the same trick. The latest key differences is the fact Lewiss solution comes to popular with the newest facts out of a perfectly normal counterfactual (“In the event the Suzy had not thrown, …”) in the a possible business where certain genuine events (elizabeth.g. Billys struck) dont occur, once the structural-equations provider comes to popular with the case out of a good counterfactual with another style of antecedent (“Got Suzy maybe not tossed and Billys material nevertheless not struck, …”). Hitchcock phone calls these ‘clearly nonforetracking (ENF) counterfactuals. (Furthermore to have shaped overdetermination, where i ‘frost BT during the 0 this time a non-real really worth to recover counterfactual reliance ranging from Suzys put in addition to shattering.)
5.2 SEF and you will Counterfactuals
Whoever has pursued the brand new SEF approach to providing a diagnosis away from ‘real causation that’s, the newest causal family relations ranging from real, brand of occurrences have experienced hardly any to express concerning the semantics of the counterfactuals one underpin SEF. Certain people (elizabeth.grams. Hitchcock 2001) explicitly and many experts implicitly guess a generally Lewisian approach to counterfactuals, therefore, the architectural equations was representations away from interactions of affairs in the counterfactual reliance once the described above whose truth requirements is generally Lewisian.