Gopnik's View Of Rational Counterfactual Knowledge

In order to think of rational counterfactuals people use causal knowledge. Causal knowledge is a basic understanding that one thing will cause another. Scientists were able to prove that even young children use causal knowledge while they play pretend. Gopnik wrote, “Causation is what gives fantasy its logic” (Gopnik 175). This means that when we imagine different situations, without causal knowledge, our counterfactual thoughts might not make sense. Gopnik points out, “once you know one thing is causally connected to another you can predict what will happen...” (Gopnik 172). When people want to change something, they use causal knowledge to think of what they need to do to make that change possible. With this knowledge humans can manipulate