Questions tagged [causation]
The causation tag has no usage guidance.
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Do qualia cause effects, and if so, do these effects offer survival advantages from an evolutionary standpoint?
Can consciousness (qualia) cause detectable and measurable effects? For example, would we able to tell the difference between a robot that experiences qualia vs. a robot that doesn't, by detecting the ...
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Hume says we can't determine a causal connections between objects. Why separate the system into objects at all?
A summary of Hume's perspective is as follows:
When we reason about matters of fact to reach new conclusions, we use cause and effect: when a dropped ball hits the ground (observation), it bounces (...
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Is the principle of cause and effect bound to material?
I am having a hard time finding an answer to my question. The reason I’m asking it is to figure out if cause and effect could have existed before the universe was created. If anyone has insight on ...
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Is there any principle that requires only things that begin to exist have a cause?
William Lane Craig argues that everything that begins to exist has a cause. But what about the reverse? Do things that don’t begin to exist not have a cause? Do things that exist past eternally ...
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Justice and general intelligence systems? [closed]
In a world of general intelligence systems. If an AI causes an accident how is justice served? This maybe due to the overlook of a human who is no longer there. And the reason for that would be it was ...
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Are there phenomena which are partially spontaneous and partially causal?
Events can be spontaneous or non spontaneous. Spontaneous is defined as occurring without apparent external cause. Non spontaneous events are causal, that is, there is cause and effect.
Suppose an ...
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How could we get over a seeming contradiction in first cause causality without jumping to anything impossible?
This post is showing a contradiction in the existence of a first cause, meaning maybe it's not possible for it to exist. You might not get this immediately so look at the second paragraph and read ...
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Is this a good argument against mental causation?
If mental causation exists, then mental phenomena would affect the bodies of sentient beings.
Then the bodies of sentient beings (and only they) would be affected by an additional set of causal ...
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Please criticize my argument for a first cause
Salaamualykum, I would like this argument to be strengthened by criticism: Everything has a cause, by cause I mean mean something that "therefores it" regardless of your definition. if ...
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Do non physical causes exist?
When we decide to move an arm, some argue that it is an example of a mental event causing a physical effect. But doesn’t recent science show that free will may be illusory and from a time perspective, ...
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Does choice exist?
I've been thinking about a few legal quotes that have initiated my investigation into whether or not choice actually exists:
A "universal and persistent" foundation stone in our system of ...
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Everything must have a cause?
In a possible reality, if something came into existence without something giving rise to it, the fact would be that , there was nothing stopping something from coming into existence without anything ...
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What kind of physical complexity is related to the axiom of regularity for sets?
Augenstein's exploration in Links between physics and set theory mentions Ulam relating complexity and regularity:
There are several sources for appreciating Ulam’s ideas and interests. A collection ...
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Causation in physics
Electromagnetic radiation phenomena exhibit a temporal asymmetry: we observe radiation coherently diverging from a radiating source, such the light emitted by a star, but we do not observe radiation ...
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causation correlation and constraints
We know causation doesn't imply correlation and correlation doesn't imply causation.
I was curious to know does constraints implies correlation or causation.
If A constraints B and B constraints A ...
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Causation vs. correlation
Neither causation can say they are correlated, nor correlation can say they are causation. Am I right ? Suppose there is no correlation between A and B. Does it mean there is no causal relation ...
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Can the concept of antisets be used for a neo-mechanist causal set theory?
Background information:
"Causal Approaches to Scientific Explanation," sec. 1. My takeaway here is looking at individual existential quantifications, i.e. quantifying over individual causal ...
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How can we establish that causal relationships existed in the past?
From Hume's problem of induction, it is intuitive to me that, for example, "taking aspirin in the past has relieved my headaches" is insufficient to say with certainty that "taking an ...
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Logical relations between reasons and behavior cannot be cause and effect?
I'm listening to this lecture on mental causation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RefjI1lGT-Q&t=1466s
At 22:50, the lecturer says, "Hume told us didn't he that there can't be logical ...
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Why is mind interacting with matter any more problematic than matter interacting with matter?
So there's this supposedly an 'interaction' problem for substance dualism, that isn't there for physicalism or idealism. I've never understood this.
So as Hume pointed out, we see event a followed by ...
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Does Hume undermine determinism? [closed]
The problem of induction (kind courtesy David Hume) states that causality isn't deductively justified.
Determinism, predicated on causality, isn't justified.
Ergo, free will is (at the very least) ...
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What happens to statements like cause must precede effect for the mental events for this model?
My understanding is that for this model (epiphenomenalism (?)) is there isn't mental causation rather a kind of mapping between physical and mental events?
What happens to statements like cause must ...
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What is this idea of causality being articulated?
So I wanted to ask about the kind of causality when someone says something of the sort: "Communism made these people destroy their own society" or "I have a brilliant idea now I will ...
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What is the definition of libertarian free will?
I've seen similar questions asked once or twice on here, but I wasn't able to find a satisfying defense of libertarian free will. The answers seemed to be kind of scattered. So, I wanted to make ...
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Do preceding events cause subsequent ones in a four-dimensionalist world?
I feel like this question has a good chance of having been asked here before, but the first ten-odd "similar questions" listed by the site when I composed the title didn't cover what I'm ...
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Is butterfly effect always happening?
You are sitting at front of house with warm tea. Right when you drinking it with glass, there is vehicle accident at street of front house.
If you didn't drink it at that time before, will the ...
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Are things "caused" by the butterfly effect actually caused by them?
I once read that even a humble medieval peasant merely had to sneeze to cause events hundreds of years in the future:
"Not just Napoleon but the humblest medieval peasant had only to
sneeze in ...
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Does Newton's first law of motion contradicts causality?
First, English is not my mother tongue and hence maybe the expressions I will use are not very accurate.
Causality as I understand is when there is a change, then there is a preceding event "...
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What would reality be like without causality? [closed]
If there were no physical laws of causality (law of gravitation, etc.) would there be "events", what would happen in the world when we act in our day to day life's? Trying to imagine a ...
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Who has defended a non-causal (emanationist) concept of strong emergence, compatible with reductionism?
Often in debates about emergence, an opposition is set up between (strong) emergence and reductionism. These are seen as incompatible alternatives.
In particular, if one believes in downward causation,...
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Causation vs correlation in the context of physics
How to know whether A and B is causal or correlated? Is it correct to say that physicists have always been concerned about causation? The laws of physics are stated in terms of equations that have ...
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An argument against Hume's idea of necessary connection
In section 7 of the Enquiry Hume talks about necessary connection being an ambiguous metaphysical concept since even though we see events happening one after another (ex. hitting a billiard ball ...
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causality vs determinism
Does causality implies determinism?
Causation is a necessary relation between cause and effect and I consider determinism as "state of the future will be uniquely fixed by the past's state "
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What is the difference between control exerted by an agent and causation?
I have my own thoughts about this. Am I on the right track or is there some real philosophy that defines the concept of control differently?
In a regular cause & effect scenario the cause ...
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Does Efficient Cause include Preventive Cause as a subspecies?
Aristotle defines 'efficient cause' (in Physics II.3, 194b24 ff) as “the primary starting point from which change or rest originates”. Does the phrase 'or rest' come to include 'preventive cause' (an ...
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Brute facts and the burden of proof
I'm trying my best to understand Della Rocca's article "PSR", which I believe convincingly shows that that one cannot reasonably hold that some facts are brute while others are not without a ...
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Causation with Inductive/Deductive Logic
I'm sofa-philosopher and I have a case I can't quite dismantle. My friend (let's call him John) just made a statement that I find philosophically weak, and I'd like to run it thru you guys.
So, John ...
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Does analysis start with a premise or conclusion?
I'm trying to perform an analysis but I'm unsure which way around the premise and conclusions are.
Here is the example:
"The circulatory system is able to circulate blood.".
Now I'm trying ...
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Does time have a beginning? [closed]
I'm not expecting to learn individual points of view of those who read this question here (The specific question here is whether time has a beginning - not general ideas pertaining to philosophy of ...
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Leibniz's theory of subtance and causal interaction - with God
It follows from Leibniz' complete concept theory of truth that substances have no causal interaction with another. But Leibniz also says that created substances depend on God and that God conserves ...
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If y is a direct result of x, and x is occurring, is y unavoidable?
Suppose knocking over a glass has the direct result of making fall. If you knock over a glass, will it fall, no matter what?
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Are patterns prior to causes? Which philosophers are hesitant to believe there really are causes?
Most people and most philosophers seem to strongly believe in causation. I would like understand what philosophers have to say about how to go from believing in just patterns to causes too.
Are the ...
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How does a dualist explain changing their mind?
If I'm a monist about the mind and physicalism and/or causal determinism, when I change my mind about some topic, I can posit something causally linked to my mind as changing my opinion. Perhaps I ...
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Is the idea that "Everything is energy" even coherent?
There are many New Age websites claiming Everything is energy. Does this even make sense in philosophy of physics and metaphysics?
How can something be "made out of energy"? As far as I ...
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Is the reason why we can't come up with a perfect definition of causation, that our common idea of causation is diffuse?
I have read a lot about theories of causation lately. None of them define causation satisfactorily. Either you end up with a definition that comes very close to common sense, but at the same time is ...
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Questions about Reichenbach's Principle and causes
Is "statistical dependences need to be explained causally" an accurate depiction of Reichenbach's Principle? (Rob Spekkens https://youtu.be/n8NRSPCekmI?t=1575)
Does one need to accept this ...
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Suzy and Billy throwing rocks at a bottle or hitting a bell - are these examples of late preemption?
Regarding causation, late preemption occurs, when a process (cause) leads to an effect, but a backup-process is also set in motion and would have led to the same effect, if the other process wouldn't ...
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How does Spinoza deduce substance must cause itself?
Prop. VII. Existence Belongs to the Nature of Substance
Spinoza demonstrates this by arguing substance must be the cause of itself, i.e. existence must belong to the nature of substance (by def. 1). ...
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Is there a Possible World in which Humeanism isn't true?
I'm an amateur philosopher, interested in the work of Ned Hall:
Mindscape podcast: Ned Hall on Possible Worlds and the Laws of Nature (Dec-2019)
PhilPapers: Humean Reductionism About Laws Of Nature (...
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What's the difference between a causal relation and a causal and nomic relation?
If a nomic and causal relation is a relation in which something cause something else and this effect is dependent on the properties of the causal object, what is specific in a simple causal relation?
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