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Full Idea
Imagine a Venusian lands on Earth and observes a forest fire, and says 'I know what caused that - the atmosphere is saturated with oxygen!'. Thus one man's 'background condition' can easily be another man's 'cause'.
Gist of Idea
An alien might think oxygen was the main cause of a forest fire
Source
Hilary Putnam (Why there isn't a ready-made world [1981], 'Causation')
Book Ref
Putnam,Hilary: 'Realism and Reason: Papers vol 3' [CUP 1985], p.214
A Reaction
You can't sweep 'the' cause of a fire away so easily. There is always oxygen on Earth, but only occasional forest fires. The oxygen doesn't 'trigger' the fire (i.e. it isn't the proximate cause).
17644 | Metaphysical realism is committed to there being one ultimate true theory [Putnam] |
17645 | An alien might think oxygen was the main cause of a forest fire [Putnam] |
17648 | It is an illusion to think there could be one good scientific theory of reality [Putnam] |
17643 | Shape is essential relative to 'statue', but not essential relative to 'clay' [Putnam] |
17642 | The old view that sense data are independent of mind is quite dotty [Putnam] |