Questions tagged [causation]
The causation tag has no usage guidance.
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What's the difference between cause and condition?
If I drop a ball, the act of release is the cause. What are the conditions in this situation? Few examples that come to mind are: gravity, mass, density of air.. What's the difference between cause ...
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1answer
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Is Duff's test of failure just the contrapositive of “D intends a consequence of his action if he acts with the aim of producing that consequence”?
Isn't 2 (Duff's test of failure) no more than the contrapositive of 1?
I can rephrase 2 as
2.1. If the result didn't occur, would D regard himself as having failed in his plan?
The logical ...
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1answer
43 views
Do any arguments — at all— about qualia work analogously to arguments about causation?
Are there any arguments about qualia that are analogous to those about cause? I'm asking partly because cause and qualia seem they should be hot topics of any philosophy, and partly due to a confused ...
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113 views
Does the reversibility of laws of physics prove that causality doesn't exist?
Does the fact that the fundamental laws are symmetric with respect to direction of time show that causation does not exist? Since causality always requires the cause to precede the effect, but laws of ...
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118 views
Are all explanations either personal or scientific?
In A New Cosmological Argument, Richard Gale and Alexander Pruss offer up a cosmological argument for a personal God, from the weak principle of sufficient reason (among other premises, but the WPSR ...
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1answer
119 views
Is this argument equivalent to the argument of prime mover of Aristotle?
For alternation in the status of A to be a cause of the alteration in the status of B, we naively demand that the former alteration exists before the later, and so the later [i.e.; the alteration in ...
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1answer
65 views
Questions concerning Hume's argument for the unknowability of ultimate causes
I'm currently reading through Hume's An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, and I'm having trouble understanding one of his big arguments in the section entitled "Skeptical Doubts Concerning the ...
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150 views
How are 'voluntary' actions possible in the scope of Sam Harris's framework of free will (its absence actually)?
Disclamer: I am striving to understand the point of view, not to examine if it is right or wrong (makes sense or not, etc.).
I have listened to two audio excerpts by Sam Harris, discussing his views ...
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Is there a philosophical position for and against the idea that every causal entity contributes to every effect?
Is there a philosophical position for and against the idea that every causal entity can in principle contribute to every effect?
So do some e.g. physical explanations claim that entities of type X ...
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3answers
173 views
Would a first cause exist necessarily, so that absences are uncaused?
Would a first cause exist necessarily?
So, let's suppose God is the first cause. Does that mean he necessarily exists? Does He then mean that his effects also exist, contingently or not, so that ...
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6answers
294 views
What are examples of causes that do not require energy to produce an effect?
As a comment to an answer Conifold mentioned that "Causes may not require any energy to produce the effect".
After thinking about that, I couldn't come up with any such causes outside of metaphysical ...
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1answer
137 views
Formal logic to describe causation?
I'm looking for any formal work that has been done on describing causation the way people understand it. I am not looking for logical implication, more a way to talk about "Why?" questions. Basically, ...
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1answer
155 views
“Idea of Power” - Locke and Hume
What is the concept of "power" in the context of "causation" in the philosophy of John Locke and David Hume?
At one instance, in his treatise "An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding", Hume seems ...
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2answers
137 views
Must an eternal object be uncaused?
Let's say that we grant that item "X" is eternal. By "eternal" we mean that it has always existed and that it always will exist.
Because "X" is eternal, does it follow that it MUST be uncaused?
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1answer
72 views
Does a material cause either depend on its effect or appear to be somehow self-sufficient?
Does a material cause either depend on its effect or appear to be somehow self suffiient?
Aristotle considers the material "cause" (hyle) of an object as
equivalent to the nature of the raw ...
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85 views
Explain kant's conception of causality as an a priori category prescribed by the understanding to all possible objects of experience?
How does causality relate to the a priori and experience? I am having trouble connecting the dots. Any help would be great!
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57 views
How does Hume's conception of impressions and ideas lead him to argue that causality can only be probabilistic?
I am trying to understand this concept and it just isn't clicking. Any help would be appreciated!
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1answer
96 views
Can causally unconnected things become causally connected?
Things have properties and what it means by being in a causal connection is one object's property/properties determines the property/properties of the other object with which the first object ...
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Is Levinas using an original form of causation?
I don't remember the exact reference so it might be a bit hard to understand my question, but I'll try to draw the general idea that I understand Levinas to be using.
Levinas puts a kind of ...
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2answers
129 views
Hume and the notion of causation
Hume argues that what most people associate as "cause" could be the constant conjunction of events. There is no way to prove a necessary connection between A and B.
However, my question has to do ...
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1answer
56 views
Combining causal and identity relations
Suppose I have the causal relation C causes E, and the symmetric identity relation E is (E1 ^ E2 ^ E3), which have the following probability functions: E = bC and E = E1 * E2 * E3 where E, C, E1, E2 ...
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127 views
How do epiphenomenalists make sense of discussions about qualia?
Epiphenomenalists believe that mental events have no causal effect on the physical. They may differ in what they consider "mental events" but it seems all of them would consider qualia / phenomenal ...
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142 views
Will AI make falsifiability obsolete?
With the advances in machine learning, data mining and process of big data, soon machines will find patterns that could either interpreted as causation or correlation while we have no idea of the ...
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How is 'social meaning of an action' a human action's Formal Cause?
Capaldi PhD Columbia, Smit PhD Catholic Univ. of Leuven. The Art of Deception (2007). p. 213.
Please see the red arrow beneath. How can 'social meaning of an action' be the Formal Cause of the human ...
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232 views
Why's an acorn's Formal Cause “structural potential to become an oak tree”?
Capaldi PhD Columbia, Smit PhD Catholic Univ. of Leuven. The Art of Deception (2007). p. 191-2.
According to Aristotle, the concept of "causation" has to be understood in four
different senses.
...
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5answers
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If we imagine a world that functions without causality, how absurd could it be?
If we assume that there's a universe that is devoid of causality, and if we assume that it isn't eternally static, would that mean that everything can happen because there are no reasons inhibiting ...
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7answers
185 views
How are the actions of conscious beings interpreted in terms of cause and effect?
When there's inanimate objects such as two billiard balls, we determine that ball C is the cause of Ball D's movement if C collides with D and shoves it. In addition, because ball C is an inanimate ...
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3answers
283 views
Can the principle of sufficient reason be applied to the whole of existence?
Many philosophers (Leibniz and Heidegger, to name but two) consider "Why is there something rather than nothing" the most difficult and important question. Given that "nothing" is a possibility among ...
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153 views
If I use an object to produce an effect, am I the direct or the indirect cause of the effect?
People appeared to approach this question as if it were about whether I can be held liable for the action of breaking a window (the main example). However, this question has nothing to do with law; ...
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2answers
368 views
Is causality a type of necessary and sufficient condition?
Does 'A caused B' mean that A is a necessary and sufficient condition for B?
Imagine that we go to a shop and buy two items with a total cost 40 dollars (30 for 1st item and 10 for the 2nd). Is the ...
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1answer
58 views
Are physical forces a non-entity cause?
I have been browsing some posts in this StackExchange where I encountered a rather odd proposition that
Gravity and other forces are non-entity causes.
I fail to see how that is the case. I ...
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1answer
72 views
Is there a theory in philosophy that time can be reduced to causation?
Some people really believe that the past somehow physically exists even if it's past. Like the universe has some kind of container where all its past states are stored. On the other hand, there are ...
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197 views
Causality: is it possible for one attribute to be found in one node but not the others before it?
This is a rather basic question about causality, but I'm a bit confused over it (especially in terms of the "first cause" argument).
Causality (from Wikipedia):
Agency or efficacy that connects ...
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2answers
133 views
If purpose is just another side of cause, is everyone a consequentialist?
Purpose is just another side of cause. This is what I take as a premise. One might change "cause" by "reason" sometimes, both are related.
Every non-randomistic process has some end after which this ...
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13answers
802 views
Sketch of a proof for real free will?
I have read many contemporary philosophers and the mainstream view seems to be that real free will is an illusion in the sense that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon which is only set on top of ...
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1answer
48 views
Can the immediate effect of a cause be considered a part of the cause? If not, why?
I was wondering whether heat from a fire can be considered part of the fire (heat will definitely exist merely in the presence of fire)? Or, whether sunlight can be considered part of the sun (...
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71 views
Aristotle's middle point between teleological eliminativists and teleological intentionalists
I'm reading an introduction to Aristotle's theory of causation, Aristotle by Christopher Shields, and I understand that he says that Aristotle's view of final causes is between teleological ...
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122 views
On the explanation of facts
As a chemist, I have some philosophical doubts about explanation of facts.
Short intro
In Bertrand Russell's book 'History of Western Philosophy' he says that leading-to scientific knowledge is the '...
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1answer
133 views
The subtle difference between interaction and causal effect (law of cause and effect)
I was talking with a friend about autonomous cars, he said to me that for these cars is required full interaction with other vehicles. I thought that with "interaction" he was referring to "...
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How does Hume justify his account of the origin of causation to a general sense?
Hume's account of causation explains why we think specific things have causes and explains them in terms of their constant connection in our minds such that we associate them by "habit". Hume brings ...
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97 views
Can we assume that there are infinitely many possible states of the world at time t + 1?
I wasn't exactly sure where to post this question, so I decided that it's sufficiently philosophical in nature to warrant its being posted here. I may end up posting it on Mathematics SE as well.
I'...
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185 views
Does Nagarjuna's MMK offer any interesting arguments against the existence of a God?
Does Nagarjuna's MMK offer any interesting arguments against the existence of a God?
I believe that it's meant to be a refutation of the view that dharmas, elements of cognition, have svabhava, or ...
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What is the difference between Avicenna's and al-Ghazâlî's understandings of causality?
In the 17th discussion of The Incoherence of the Philosophers, Al-Ghazali attempts to explain how a certain view of causality (which we can see is quite certainly intended to be that espoused by ...
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238 views
Why is the mind/body problem considered to be particularly hard?
Non-philosopher here. I apologize in advance for any imprecise language.
Why is the notion that mental states exist and arise from brain states especially perplexing? Aren't what entities exist and ...
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3answers
1k views
What fallacy infers motivation from mere description?
Here's some example:
"Men dominate women in the majority of fortune top 100 CEO positions"
"Women dominate men in primary school teaching jobs"
Neither the men nor the women are actually purposely ...
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66 views
Question on causation
I have a question on causation
Presuming transitive causation such as :
A causes B causes C,
Where we say A causes C
Is it correct to say:
A causes C in virtue of causing the effect that is B that ...
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539 views
Is it a logical flaw to blame someone for an event if they were simply its causal factor?
I would ask if this is a logical fallacy, but I don't think you can consider wrongful attribution of blame to be a logical fallacy, because attributing blame is a normative claim, not a descriptive ...
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Hume (Cause and Effect and Substance)
I am having trouble understanding how Hume arrives at the concepts of cause and effect and of substance.
Does any of it have to do with every perception being a distinct experience or that causation ...
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179 views
How are “causal” loops avoided in Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics?
If we take Aquinas' first way, for example, the inference that a chain of movers exist, is readily made, but no defense for this assumption is given.
Usually the argument is interpreted so, that all ...
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What was Kant's argument that causation is necessary for observation?
In this comic, the fictional Immanuel Kant talks about investigating David Hume's "An Inquiry Concerning Human Reason". Hume, in that work, argued that we only see two things happening in sequence and ...
