Week 9: Convergence and Causation

What the pooled regional and global cases do and don't support, and why the course treats a single unifying cause as a live question rather than a conclusion this phase is entitled to.

The pattern is real. What causes it is still an open question.

19 April 2027

Open the slides

Outline#

• what “convergence” in this week’s practical actually licenses you to claim, and what it doesn’t
• the difference between a pattern across cases and an explanation for the pattern
• a first, deliberately brief look at the competing frameworks weeks 10–11 take up properly — including the fourth-dimensional hypothesis, named here only to flag that it exists
• why the Comparative Literature Review is marked on evaluating competing explanations, not on picking a winner

After this lecture#

The Comparative Literature Review is due this week, marked on exactly the pattern-without-a-cause result this lecture just walked through — not on whether your review settles one. Week 10 starts weighing the frameworks named here only to flag that they exist.