[tobiasSoftware]

Simpson's paradox is about a data conflict between an overall view and a more specific view. For example, in the kidney stone scenario, say you find treatment A is more successful overall and treatment B is more successful in the specific view at both treating small stones and treating big stones when broken down that way. The article indicates that the specific view is always correct so treatment B should be used in the future, whereas the commenter is saying that context is important to determine which treatment should be used.

[mcguire]

Exactly. With a causal model (which can be validated independently) you have a principled reason for choosing which variables to control for.