Causation in Individuals: Exercise 2-3 Exercise Context: Consider the following effect: Sam Spade contracts malaria. Sam's condition was caused by one or more things. You don't know what the cause or causes were. Below is a list of eight antecedent events or conditions that might be the cause or causes of Sam's disease or might play no role. In the interactive exercise below, you can in God-like fashion create and recreate multiple scenarios where those events or conditions happen or don't happen to Sam. After you set up a scenario, the software will tell you whether the set of events and/or conditions has resulted in Sam contracting malaria. Your job is to identify the one thing or the set of things that together are sufficient to cause Sam to contract malaria. Here are the events or conditions the exercise will let you set up: |
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01 | Sam is bitten by a mosquito infected with malaria, or alternatively, he is not bitten by a mosquito infected with malaria. | |||||||||||||||
02 | Sam has a gene that is responsible for sickle cell anemia, or alternatively, he does not have that gene. | |||||||||||||||
03 | Sam has been given an experimental innoculation claimed by his HMO primary care physician to protect him from malaria, or alternativley, he has not been given such an innoculation. | |||||||||||||||
04 | Sam has drunk at least one gin and tonic per day for the last 5 years (quinine water is a treatment for malaria), or, alternatively, he has avoided gin and tonic assiduously. | |||||||||||||||
Question: | ||||||||||||||||
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