TPF : Causation ; physical or logical

[Gnomon]

I fear that my ideas are being lost in translation! (In particular I’m not sure what the word ‘belief’ is doing here!) — invizzy

I added the "belief" because our words are usually expressions of belief, which does not always correspond to objective reality. Hence our language may "cause" erroneous or undesirable effects in the natural & cultural worlds. I apologize, if that goes off-topic. :yikes:

So that’s my idea, that causation is a special sort of word. — invizzy

Yes. We normally use the word "cause" in reference to natural exchanges of energy that result in physical changes in the material world. But, human Will (Intention or Purpose) is an artificial form of causation, which causes changes in both physical and psychical realms of the world. So, in that sense, the word "causation" is indeed "special".

PS__I would say that Causation is both Linguistic (mental) and "in the world (physical).

Intentional Causation :
Ironically, it was Science, not Religion, that revealed the teleological tendencies of the natural world -- that it is evolving in a positive direction. Most traditional religions have always assumed a steady-state universe that either stays the same forever, or simply goes around in circles. But agnostic or godless scientists determined that the evidence from Biology, Geology, and Paleontology indicates that many small random changes add-up to progressive evolution toward increasing order and complexity -- at least in the corner of the cosmos we can study in detail. Of course, that development is not perfectly deterministic -- more like a little dance of creation : two steps forward and one step back. But it seems to imply some purpose behind the prancing procession.
http://www.bothandblog.enformationism.info/page29.html

[Gnomon]

Why Correlation Does Not Imply Causation
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... ent/751284

(What is the difference between implication and causality?) — Karlen Karapetyan

Your well defined, but complex, post goes over my philosophically untrained head. But I will comment on one facet of the Causation question that I am somewhat familiar with. In the pre-scientific era : the implication that an object in motion could cause another object to move was intuitive (e.g experience with billiard balls). But the the observers had no idea how to explain mechanical transfer of motion between objects. An ancient word for invisible causes was "Spirit" (wind or breath). So, the implication was that some invisible "ooomph" was transmitted from the moving object to the stationary object, forcing it to move in the same direction. Today, we use the words "Energy" and "Force" to explain the transmission of unseen "momentum" from the kinetic object to the static object. But all of those "ooomph" words describe a mathematical relationship, not a material substance that can be off-loaded from one carrier to another.

The causal relationship between Kinetic & Static is so reliable, that we would be surprised if the cue ball struck the eight ball, and suddenly stopped dead, with no corresponding acceleration of the the struck ball. Where did the "oomph" go? Due to our intuition of cause & effect we have come to expect Action & Reaction to be joined at the hip (Necessity is implicit). That is the ancient belief we call "Causality". But scientists have since explained the causal mystery in terms of Mathematical ratios instead of Material substances. Momentum is not a load of stuff carried by moving objects, but a dominant/submissive relation between primary Action and secondary Reaction. However, we can now explain Causation in terms of Information Theory.

Metaphorically, the active partner in this exchange issues a coded command (kinetic energy) and the passive partner (static Mass) obeys, by shouldering the original Power Load (momentum) and transporting it in a direction & velocity that is proportional to the relative powers of Dominant & Submissive agents. In this case, the Load (or Charge) is not material stuff, but immaterial (mathematical) Information about the relative interrelationship. To view Causation in terms of Information Theory is a novel concept, but has been demonstrated experimentally.


Causal Force :
As we experience enough cases of a particular constant conjunction, our minds begin to pass a natural determination from cause to effect, adding a little more “oomph” to the prediction of the effect every time, a growing certitude that the effect will follow again. It is the internal impression of this “oomph” that gives rise to our idea of necessity,
https://iep.utm.edu/hume-causation/

Information transfer is the way information is turned into a code and transferred from one place to another.
https://www.generationgenius.com/inform ... -for-kids/

Energy transformation, also known as energy conversion, is the process of changing energy from one form to another. In physics, energy is a quantity that provides the capacity to perform work or moving, or provides heat. ___Wikipedia

Information to Energy conversion :
We briefly review the first experimental demonstration of Maxwell's demon of Szilard's engine type that converts information to free energy.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4629685/

EnFormAction : the power to cause change of form, or motion

Form : a pattern by which we recognize & define objects in the world.

[Gnomon]

I still haven’t seen a convincing argument against my idea of causation!
A cause is necessity between particular things. — invizzy

I'm not an Aristotle scholar. But, I assume you are using "necessity" in the Aristotelian sense of a lawful relationship (metaphysical connection) between objects that results in physical change. This seems to be a specific case of Ari's notion of a natural "place" for everything --- perhaps a primitive notion of gravity/mass. Some things are naturally superior (gravitas) to others, and possess more inherent force or power, to rule subordinate things. This concept was later applied to the divine (natural) right of Kings & Nobles to govern lesser beings. The "necessary" ruler/ruled relationship was inherently metaphysical, even though it was sometimes enforced by physical compulsion. So, is your "necessity" a metaphysical concept or a physical law -- which are historically related*1?

In a post above, you seem to imply that Causation itself is "a thing". If so, is it a physical object or a mathematical (metaphysical) ratio between Cause & Effect, mover & moved, ruler & ruled? In physics, the necessity of Cause & Effect is limited by the Space-Time "light cone", which is set by the speed of Light (photons ; particular things), which are particles or waves that propagate causal Energy from one place-time to another. In which case, the speed limit of Light is essentially a Natural Law governing Causation, and Necessity Relations.

As I understand it, in the Aristotelian model of Necessity, the First Cause (Prime Mover) of Nature is also the Final Cause of all natural events. And any intermediate Effective causes (energy ; force : momentum) are essentially agents of the ultimate cause. This is a teleological notion, which indicates that causal events are Necessary due to their subordinate relationship to the Ultimate Authority of the Prime Cause. But Hume denied that human induction (from objective observation) could logically infer an unbroken (necessary) chain of causation from First to Final causes. Is that an argument against your idea of causation, or merely missing the metaphysical point?


*1. Divine Natural Law :
While our main focus will be on the status of the natural law as constituting the principles of practical rationality, we should consider for a moment at least the importance within Aquinas’s view of the claim that the natural law is an aspect of divine providence.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-law-ethics/

*2. Causal Agent :
Aristotle defines the agent or efficient "cause" (κινοῦν, kinoûn) of an object as that which causes change and drives transient motion (such as a painter painting a house) (see Aristotle, Physics II 3, 194b29). In many cases, this is simply the thing that brings something about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_causes

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