When cause and effect breaks down...

[Daniel Unplugged]

We take it for granted that we exist in a rational universe, where everything can be explained using the principle of cause and effect. We assume that cause and effect always applies, and that it is a true and valid explanation of how the universe works. All of science is based on this belief. Without it, we would be unable to understand anything.

 

So what caused condition Z? Condition Y of course. What caused condition Y? Condition X. Condition X? Condition W and so on and so on.

 

This can end in one of three ways:

1. An infinite regression, which seems impossible.

2. We will reach a condition that has no cause.

3. At some point we will reach a condition, say condition A, whose cause was condition Z, or some other condition that was in fact caused by A, which is a circular arguement.

 

My point is that the whole principle of cause and effect must, at some point, break down and/or cease to apply, in which case true understanding/knowlege is impossible. Does anyone have a way around this?

[Kevin Beal]

Causality is meaningless without reference to the features of objects. The meaning will be too different to apply universally as any kind of principle beyond "effects are caused, things change".

 

The state of system can cause an emergent property to come about. The accumulation and configuration of H2O molecules produces the phenomena of liquidity. But this process doesn't occur over time.

 

In a very different sense, me kicking a ball causes it to roll forward, described in terms of the transfer of kinetic energy.

 

And all of that is still different from saying that psychological repression can cause splitting and dissociation, or that digestion causes food stuffs to dissolve into pieces that can be absorbed.

 

There is no science of cause and effect. Cause and effect describe every science and in ways that are very rarely reducible to the atomic theory of matter. If everything could be reduced to the atomic theory of matter, there would be no need for any sciences except for physics.

 

The idea that all cause and effect fits nicely on a single continuum to be described by a single theory is horse poopies.

 

I reject the term "law of causality". It's equally as helpful as saying the "law that things exist". It makes it sound like it's a part of physics like the "law of gravity".