Questions tagged [causality]
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208 questions
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Types of causality and free will
Given the philosophical concept of a deterministic causal chain where every event is necessitated by prior events.how does a complete taxonomy of all known types of causality (e.g., efficient, formal, ...
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Is there a difference between a mechanistic explanation and a nomic explanation?
I know how they are described differently: a nomic explanation is an explanation that appeals to laws of nature or something equivalent. A mechanistic explanation is one that appeals to the sort of ...
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Is it possible to sustain a compatibilist stance about free will that "resembles" the "coehrence theory of truth"?
Sorry for the wall of text that follows, but I think I've to clarify "where" this question come from. But you can skip right to point 4 is want to get directly to the question. Thank you for ...
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We "easily" accept the existence of “things” despite absence of discrete boundaries. Why is it harder to accept free will within the causal continuum?
We appear to be made of atoms and particles and fields, which are “arranged and embedded in a continuum.” But despite that, we (usually) do not consider ourselves and things as illusory segmentation ...
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Can the sorites paradox be one the keys to understand free will?
The sorites paradox is perhaps the greatest paradox of our universe. Things exist. Different things. Things are themselves, and they are different from what they are not (principle of identity). This ...
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Does reason itself presuppose cause-effect and intelligibility? - Seeking citation
It seems that reason presupposes cause-effect and intelligibility.
Without the if/then of reason there is no "and so" of cause-effect. So reason seems (in a way) tautological of cause-effect....
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According to Ockham, is causality mind-dependent?
If, as Ockham holds, relations don’t exist as real entities outside the mind, does that mean causal connections are not really “in” the world either? In other words, is it correct to say that:
c is ...
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Motion (change), time and causality [duplicate]
Could there be motion or change without time? If yes how to imagine it? Also since causality requires that the cause occurrence must be before the occurrence of the effect is causality required ...
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Can set theory formulate causal proximity?
We often speak of causes being direct and indirect, remote and proximate. The Big Bang is (presumably) causally related to my ability to type this question. But it isn't related as immediately as my ...
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Can Aristotle’s fourfold causality be applied to an author’s work?
Aristotle typically uses human artifacts, like a bronze statue as he does in Physics ii 3, as examples to explain his doctrine of the four causes.
Since a written work is also a human artifact, I ...
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Does something being causal require that it be the sole cause?
Am I misunderstanding the word "causal" when asserting that parallel causality is possible (and in fact common)?
(I have a specific example in mind, but have deleted it to avoid "...
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How does causality fit within the unidirectionality of time? [closed]
If time flows in only one direction, how would causality be possible in the way that the chain of cause and effect extends both ways into the past and the future, infinitely?
Unless there was a ...
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Causal chains and non-causal inferences?
In A causal theory of knowing, Alvin Goldman writes:
I am inclined to say that inference is a causal process, that is, that when someone bases his belief of one proposition on his belief of a set of
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Reading list on extending David Lewis's causality?
The philosopher most commonly associated with the idea of understanding causality through counterfactuals is David Lewis. According to Lewis, an event C is a cause of an event E if and only if, had C ...
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Could the fact that energy exists in a system (the universe) in itself imply it was created at one point? [closed]
For example, when you stretch a rubber band, the energy stored as potential energy didn’t spontaneously appear; it was gradually introduced through a force, displacing the rubber band from its ...
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