Causal Talk Is Fundamental

Abstract

AbstractThe terms ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ are very common in both ordinary and scientific discourse. Since they have a number of synonyms (or near synonyms), there is no point in trying to define ‘cause’ or ‘effect’ using any of these synonyms; ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ belong to the most fundamental level of language learnt in childhood. The way to give their meaning is to display a number of contexts in which causal expressions are used without any justification. The chapter ends with a presentation and discussion of Hume’s criteria for the use of the term ‘cause’. The main points are: Causal expressions belong to our most basic vocabulary, learnt at an early age. Many causal expressions from ordinary language are used in scientific texts without being explicitly defined. It is not possible to define ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ in any more primitive vocabulary. What we can do is to describe some necessary conditions for the correct use of ‘cause’ and ‘effect’.