Causality

**Causality** is a way to describe how different events relate to one another. Suppose there are two events _A_ and _B_. If _B_ happens because _A_ happened, then people say that A _is the cause_ of B, or that B _is the effect of_ A.

### Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher. He looked at the problem of causality. In his books _Posterior analytics_ and _Metaphysics_ he wrote:
- "All causes are beginnings..."
- "... we have scientific knowledge when we know the cause..."
- "... to know a thing's nature is to know the reason why it is..."
This can be used to explain causality. Aristotle found different kinds of causes:
- The material cause is that "raw material" from which a thing is made.  This is sometimes called  the _part-whole causation_. Example: The bronze of a statue.
- The formal cause tells us what, by using the example of an artist, a thing is planned to be.  This is sometimes called _the whole-part causation_. Example: the shape of a statue.
- The efficient cause is that external thing that causes the change in the first place. It shows ' what causes change of what is changed'. It covers all possible types of things, and is the modern definition of _cause_.  Example: the artisan making the statue, the art of bronze-working, the man who gives the advice, the father of a child.
- The final cause describes why something exists.  The final cause, or telos, is the purpose of the thing.  This includes modern ideas of causation, such as wanting or needing something to be, or those that give a purpose to behaviour  Example: The reason why the artist wanted to make the statue.

Aristotle told people of two types of causes: proper (prior) causes and accidental (chance) causes. Both types of causes, can be spoken as potential or as actual, particular or generic. The same language refers to the effects of causes; so that generic effects assigned to generic causes, particular effects to particular causes, and operating causes to actual effects. It is also essential that ontological causality does not suggest the temporal relation of before and after - between the cause and the effect; that spontaneity (in nature) and chance (in the sphere of moral actions) are among the causes of effects belonging to the efficient causation, and that no incidental, spontaneous, or chance cause can be prior to a proper, real, or underlying cause _per se_.

All investigations of causality coming later in history will consist in imposing a favorite hierarchy on the order (priority) of causes; such as "final > efficient > material > formal" (Aquinas), or in restricting all causality to the material and efficient causes or, to the efficient causality (deterministic or chance), or just to regular sequences and correlations of natural phenomena (the natural sciences describing _how_ things happen rather than asking _why_ they happen).

### David Hume

David Hume was another philosopher who looked at the relation between cause and effect. Hume thinks that there are certain things all such relations of cause and effect have in common.:
- Cause and effect must be located close to each other. It is possible that causes far away have an effect close by, but they can only do this by a chain of cause-effect reactions.
- The effect always comes after the cause.
- There is a third element, called force or necessity. Water is usually fluid and transparent. From these properties, it is not apparent however that a man can suffocate in it.

Hume says that if someone is used to always seeing the same things occur in the same order, he will get accustomed to them being in that order. When he sees one event occur, he will expect the other to occur as well:

## Causality in Logic

Logic is the science that looks at how to build an argument. In Logic, there are usually two different types of causes. They are called _necessary cause_ and _sufficient cause_.
1. A **necessary cause** is a cause that says: _Whenever B occurs, A will also have occurred_. Knowing that A occurred, on the other hand does not necessarily imply that B will also have occurred.  Example: Senators in the United States need to be at least 30 years old. People that are younger cannot become senators. Therefore, any senator is at least 30 years old. (On the other hand: there are people that are at least 30 years old  that are not senators).
1. A **sufficient cause** is a cause that says _If I know A occurred, I can conclude that B also occurred_. Example:  The center of a playing card is marked with a special symbol, called a large _spade_ (♠). This is sufficient to say that the card is an ace.  There are three other cards in the game that are also aces. They are marked with a diamond (♦), a heart (♥), or a club (♣). It is not necessary to know that these three other cards exist or what they mean. On the other hand, there are no cards that are aces, except for those listed.

## Related pages

- Free will
- Determinism
- Karma
- Necessary and sufficient conditions
- Philosophy of history

## Other websites

- "The Art and Science of Cause and Effect": a slide show and tutorial lecture by Judea Pearl
- "The Buddhist Dharma of Cause and Effect as seen in the Lotus Sutra" : a Buddhist school based on this law of life as seen in the Lotus Sutra. Website in Italian and English.

### Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

- Aristotle on Causality
- Kant and Hume on Causality
- Backwards Causation
- Probabilistic Causation
- Causation and Manipulability
- Counterfactual Theories of Causation
- Causal Processes
- Causation in the Law
- Medieval Theories of Causation
- The Metaphysics of Causation

### General

- _Dictionary of the History of Ideas_:  Causation
- _Dictionary of the History of Ideas_:  Causation in Law
- _Dictionary of the History of Ideas_:  Causation in History