Objective 11-1
Understand the difference between an argument and an explanation. Understand the differences between physical causal explanations and behavioral causal explanations.

• Recognize that the physical background of an event includes whatever we determine to be the direct or immediate cause of the phenomenon we're trying to explain.
• Recognize that more than one chain of causes can contribute to an event's happening. Recognize that our interests, knowledge, purposes, etc. determine which link in the causal chain we'll identify as the cause of an event.
• Understand that reasons and motives are identified as causes within behavioral causal explanations.
• Recognize that the relevant background information in behavioral causal explanations is historical, political, social, or psychological in nature.
• Recognize that because behavior is less predictable than physical phenomena, we should expect more exceptions to generalizations in behavioral causal explanations.

Objective 11-2
Grasp the concept of "adequacy" and how to judge when an explanation is adequate.

• Recognize why testability is so important.
• Know how to test an explanation for correctness.
• Understand that non-testable explanations generate meaningless predictions, false predictions, or no predictions at all.
• Know how to avoid unnecessary assumptions, and complexities, as well as how to avoid circularity in an explanation.

Objective 11-3
Understand how to form a hypothesis.

• Understand the general strategy for arriving at the most reasonable hypothesis by "inference to the best explanation."
• Know how to apply the Method of Difference.
• Know how to apply the Method of Agreement.
• Recognize how an association or a co-variation between two things may only suggest a causal hypothesis but never confirm it.
• Be able to use "common sense," which is really background knowledge of causal mechanisms, to utilize the Methods of Agreement and Difference.
• Understand how the Best Diagnosis Method works.

Objective 11-4
Grasp the nature of general causal hypotheses.

• Recognize the difference between a general causal claim and a claim about a specific causal event.
• Understand that in a clinical trial, the subject size is critical. If it is too small, you cannot control for all the variables, and therefore you cannot calculate the probability that the outcome was not due to a different cause or just to chance.

Objective 11-5
Understand how to confirm a hypothesis.

• Appreciate how hypothesis confirmation is really just careful application of the Method of Difference combined with the Method of Agreement.
• Grasp how controlled cause-to-effect experiments work.
• Be aware of alternate methods of confirming a hypothesis when it isn't practical or ethical to experiment directly on a subject or population.
• Be able to give examples of non-experimental cause-to-effect studies.
• Be able to give examples of non-experimental effect-to-cause studies.
• Understand how to apply the results of animal experimentation to humans by analogical reasoning.

Objective 11-6
Be able to spot (and not commit) mistakes in causal reasoning.

• Find examples for the following fallacies:
• post hoc, ergo, propter hoc
• cum hoc, ergo propter hoc
• coincidence
• underlying cause
• confusing effect with cause (especially in medical tests)
• overlooking statistical regression
• proof by absence of disproof
• appeal to anecdote
• confusing explanations and excuses

Objective 11-7
Understand how establishing causation is the backbone of law.

• Grasp the concept of proximate cause.
• Understand how liability is assessed by evaluating the causal chain of action to the final effect of harm.
• Recognize the part that "causal background" plays in causal hypothesizing.
• Know what factors could contravene in establishing causation.