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Single Idea 8380
[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / a. Constant conjunction
]
Full Idea
A may be the cause of B even if there actually are cases of B not following A. Striking a match will be the cause of its igniting, in spite of the fact that some matches are damp and fail to ignite.
Gist of Idea
Striking a match causes its igniting, even if it sometimes doesn't work
Source
Bertrand Russell (On the Notion of Cause [1912], p.185)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Mysticism and Logic' [Unwin 1989], p.185
A Reaction
An important point, although defenders of the constant conjunction view can cope with it. There is a further regularity between dampness of matches and their failure to strike.
The
24 ideas
with the same theme
[causation as a regular link between event-types]:
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2364
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Causation is only observation of similar events following each other, with nothing visible in between
[Hobbes]
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6730
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We discover natural behaviour by observing settled laws of nature, not necessary connections
[Berkeley]
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3662
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Hume says we can only know constant conjunctions, not that that's what causation IS
[Hume, by Strawson,G]
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2193
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No causes can be known a priori, but only from experience of constant conjunctions
[Hume]
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4771
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In both of Hume's definitions, causation is extrinsic to the sequence of events
[Psillos on Hume]
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5194
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Hume's definition of cause as constantly joined thoughts can't cover undiscovered laws
[Ayer on Hume]
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2221
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A cause is either similar events following one another, or an experience always suggesting a second experience
[Hume]
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2234
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It is only when two species of thing are constantly conjoined that we can infer one from the other
[Hume]
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16946
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Causation is just invariance, as long as it is described in general terms
[Quine on Hume]
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15250
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If impressions, memories and ideas only differ in vivacity, nothing says it is memory, or repetition
[Whitehead on Hume]
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8383
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Day and night are constantly conjoined, but they don't cause one another
[Reid, by Crane]
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23677
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We all know that mere priority or constant conjunction do not have to imply causation
[Reid]
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5545
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Appearances give rules of what usually happens, but cause involves necessity
[Kant]
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8377
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Causation is just invariability of succession between every natural fact and a preceding fact
[Mill]
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8380
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Striking a match causes its igniting, even if it sometimes doesn't work
[Russell]
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8371
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Recurrence is only relevant to the meaning of law, not to the meaning of cause
[Ducasse]
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8598
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If things turn red for an hour and then explode, we wouldn't say the redness was the cause
[Shoemaker]
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8421
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Regularity analyses could make c an effect of e, or an epiphenomenon, or inefficacious, or pre-empted
[Lewis]
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8391
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In counterfactual worlds there are laws with no instances, so laws aren't supervenient on actuality
[Tooley]
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8384
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The regularity theory explains a causal event by other items than the two that are involved
[Crane]
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8338
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A phenomenalist about objects has to be a regularity theorist about causation
[Strawson,G]
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14537
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Coincidence is conjunction without causation; smoking causing cancer is the reverse
[Mumford/Anjum]
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12400
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Cries the maid: 'You must marry me Hume!'...
[Sommers,W]
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16527
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Causation - we all thought we knew it/ Till Hume came along and saw through it/….
[Sommers,W]
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