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Counterfactuality is currently a hotly debated topic. While for some disciplines, such as linguistics, cognitive science, or psychology, counterfactual scenarios have been an important object of study for quite a while, counterfactual thinking has in recent years emerged as a method of study for other disciplines, most notably the social sciences. This volume provides an overview of the current definitions and uses of the concept of counterfactuality in philosophy, historiography, political sciences, psychology, linguistics, physics, and literary studies.

AbstractResearchers often seek to identify the effects of a treatment on a sequence of behaviors, such as whether citizens register to vote and whether they then cast ballots. I show that average treatment effects (ATEs) are only identified until the first behavior (registering to vote) that affects the set of possible subsequent actions (voting). When one action changes the set of possible subsequent actions, it creates 'phantom counterfactuals,' or undefined potential outcomes, which render ATEs unidentified. I show that applied theory allows researchers to diagnose phantom counterfactuals, which helps to recognize unidentified ATEs and focus instead on other estimands that are identified. I illustrate this approach using a stylized model of crime reporting, showing how different theories generate different sets of identified estimands while holding constant an experimental design. I thereby establish the necessity of applied theory for causal identification in empirical research with sequential behavioral outcomes.

In the second wave of feminism it was enough to say that Antonia Dickson co-wrote History of The Kinetograph, the Kinetoscope and the Kineto-Phonograph (1895) with her inventor brother William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. But in a new moment, I utilize Catherine Gallagher's concept of "counterfactual speculation" as a "thought experiment," offering a fuller examination of the time between 1893 and 1896 when Antonia was involved in the experiments around the "projecting" Kinetoscope. "What if Antonia Dickson Had Invented the Kinetoscope?" raises the question of historical outcome, empirical evidence, and causality, offering a way around uncritical reliance on the traditions of historical narrative and testing a new methodology for feminism and film.

This essay discusses Never Built Los Angeles and Unbuilt San Francisco, two exhibits that presented plans for neighborhoods, buildings, and transit infrastructure that were considered for each city but never built. It considers the similarities and differences that have spurred and hindered development in each city.

The locations of international borders reflect political aspirations as well as power politics and attempts to bring state boundaries in line with nations. The expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia and the exclusion of the Philippines from the United States indicate the power of narrowly defined borders to govern national identity. The concept 'nations-of-intent' allows us to explore counterfactual borders as a way of examining how political aspirations translate into national borders. The paper explores three Asian cases - Malaysia, Mongolia and Vietnam - and makes reference to Indonesia in considering how different senses of what was possible and desirable in the context of decolonization generated different ideas about where borders should lie. This approach also allows us to interrogate losing forces retrospectively about the policies they would have followed within different border configurations.

The locations of international borders reflect political aspirations as well as power politics and attempts to bring state boundaries in line with nations. The expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia and the exclusion of the Philippines from the United States indicate the power of narrowly defined borders to govern national identity. The concept 'nations-of-intent' allows us to explore counterfactual borders as a way of examining how political aspirations translate into national borders. The paper explores three Asian cases - Malaysia, Mongolia and Vietnam - and makes reference to Indonesia in considering how different senses of what was possible and desirable in the context of decolonization generated different ideas about where borders should lie. This approach also allows us to interrogate losing forces retrospectively about the policies they would have followed within different border configurations.