Single Idea 8598

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / a. Constant conjunction]

Full Idea

If we found that things always explode after having been red for an hour, we would never suppose that what causes the explosion is simply a thing's having been red for an hour.

Gist of Idea

If things turn red for an hour and then explode, we wouldn't say the redness was the cause

Source

Sydney Shoemaker (Time Without Change [1969], p.63)

Book Reference

Shoemaker,Sydney: 'Identity, Cause and Mind' [OUP 2003], p.63


A Reaction

Shoemaker points out that even Hume says that cause and effect must be 'contiguous', but it clearly means that a simplistic regularity analysis of causation won't work.