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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION

A comprehensive guide to the concept of causation, featuring Aristotle's views, efficient causes and effects, causal necessity, Hume's perspective, sample questions, and additional resources.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION

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  1. THIS CD HAS BEEN PRODUCED FOR TEACHERS TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM. IT IS A CONDITION OF THE USE OF THIS CD THAT IT BE USED ONLY BY THE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THE CD ROM FROM DIALOGUE EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET) AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Dialogue Education Update 3

  2. Contents • Page 3 - Video Presentation - A poor Example of Causation. • Pages 4 to 10 - Aristotle on Causation • Page 6 - Efficient Causes and Effects • Pages 7 to 8 - Aristotle on Causation • Pages 9 to 10 - Causal Necessity • Page 11 - Hume on Causation • Page 12 - Sample Questions • Page 13 – Video Presentation on Causation • Page 14 - Community of Inquiry for discussion on Causation. • Page 15 - Bibliography

  3. Causation 5 Click here for a video clip which provides a weak example of causation.

  4. You Tube Video

  5. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Aristotle on causation Aristotle distinguished between four ways in which something can be said to be a cause.

  6. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Aristotle on causation • The material cause: because it is made out of marble • The formal cause: because it has the form of a statue • The efficient cause: because Michelangelo made it • The final cause: because it is needed to adorn the tomb

  7. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Aristotle on causation Efficient causes and effects Contemporary discussions of causation are discussions of what Aristotle called ‘efficient causation’.

  8. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Aristotle on causation So it is natural to say that all effects of efficient causes are events. But are all causes events?

  9. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Aristotle on causation One reason for thinking that causes are events is that cause and effect must follow one another in time, and only events follow each other in time.

  10. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Causal necessity One event following another in time is not sufficient for the first to cause the second.

  11. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Causal necessity This is where philosophers often bring in the idea of necessitation: what must happen, given other things

  12. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Hume on causation Some philosophers have thought that ‘causal necessity’ or ‘natural necessity’ is a very strange thing. to the first are followed by objects similar to the second’.

  13. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF CAUSATION Sample questions (i) Are causes events? What is the alternative to thinking that they are? (ii) Can an effect precede its cause? (iii) Explain the difference between causal necessity and logical necessity. (iv) Could Hume be a ‘causal realist’? (v) What is a regularity account of causation? What are the main objections to it?

  14. You tube Video on Causation • Click on the image to the left. You will need to be connected to the internet to view this presentation. • Enlarge to full screen

  15. A community of Inquiry on Causation • CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR THE STIMULUS MATERIAL FOR A DISCUSSION ON CAUSALITY (You might like to print this material out and distribute it to the class.)

  16. Bibliography • Crane Tim- An Introduction to the Philosophy of Causality- http://web.mac.com/cranetim/Tims_website/Teaching_files/Causation%2008%20handout%201.doc • Judea Pearl (2000) Causality: Models of Reasoning and Inference. Cambridge University Press ISBN-13: 978-0521773621 • Journal articles of faculty at the University of California, including Judea Pearl's articles between 1984-1998. • Spirtes, Peter, Clark Glymour and Richard Scheines Causation, Prediction, and Search, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-19440-6. • Abdoullaev, A. (2000)The Ultimate of Reality: Reversible Causality, in Proceedings of the 20th World Congress of Philosophy, Boston: Philosophy Documentation Centre, internet site, Paideia Project On-Line: http://www.bu.edu/wcp/MainMeta.htm. • Green, Celia (2003). The Lost Cause: Causation and the Mind-Body Problem. Oxford: Oxford Forum. ISBN 0-9536772-1-4 Includes three chapters on causality at the microlevel in physics. • Rosenberg, M. (1968). The Logic of Survey Analysis. New York: Basic Books, Inc. • Wikipedia-Causality-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality

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