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2021-01-17

phil-2203

  • Causation
  • David Hume's empiricism
    • Ideas vs Impressions
      • Two kinds of impressions
        • Sense impressions
        • Impressions coming from introspection
    • All our ideas are copied from our impressions
    • Cause and effect is a tricky one for David Hume
      • What exactly do we see when observing a causal process?
      • We don't see any "force" or "power" that causes effects
    • Hume says we do experience
      • That cause and effect are contiguous in space and time
      • Causes occur prior to their effects
      • There is a necessary connection between cause and effect
        • Cannot have the cause without the effect
        • But how do we experience a necessary connection?
    • Hume's theory of causation is known as regularity theory
  • All theories of causation accept that there are many regularities in the world, and that they have something to do with cause and effect
  • Elizabeth Anscombe
    • Responded to David Hume's ideas on causation
      • Causation doesn't imply necessitation
        • It can cause $B$ without necessitating $B$
      • Necessity is a logical consequence, relative to the laws of physics
        • Not a subjective relation that only exists in our minds