Causes in neuron diagrams, and testing causal reasoning in Large Language Models. A glimpse of the future of philosophy?

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Vervoort, Louis, Nikolaev, Vitaly
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Vervoort, Louis
Nikolaev, Vitaly
author_facet Vervoort, Louis
Nikolaev, Vitaly
contents We propose a test for abstract causal reasoning in AI, based on scholarship in the philosophy of causation, in particular on the neuron diagrams popularized by D. Lewis. We illustrate the test on advanced Large Language Models (ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Gemini). Remarkably, these chatbots are already capable of correctly identifying causes in cases that are hotly debated in the literature. In order to assess the results of these LLMs and future dedicated AI, we propose a definition of cause in neuron diagrams with a wider validity than published hitherto, which challenges the widespread view that such a definition is elusive. We submit that these results are an illustration of how future philosophical research might evolve: as an interplay between human and artificial expertise.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14239
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Causes in neuron diagrams, and testing causal reasoning in Large Language Models. A glimpse of the future of philosophy?
Vervoort, Louis
Nikolaev, Vitaly
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
We propose a test for abstract causal reasoning in AI, based on scholarship in the philosophy of causation, in particular on the neuron diagrams popularized by D. Lewis. We illustrate the test on advanced Large Language Models (ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Gemini). Remarkably, these chatbots are already capable of correctly identifying causes in cases that are hotly debated in the literature. In order to assess the results of these LLMs and future dedicated AI, we propose a definition of cause in neuron diagrams with a wider validity than published hitherto, which challenges the widespread view that such a definition is elusive. We submit that these results are an illustration of how future philosophical research might evolve: as an interplay between human and artificial expertise.
title Causes in neuron diagrams, and testing causal reasoning in Large Language Models. A glimpse of the future of philosophy?
topic Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14239