tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post2428537043417009787..comments2024-03-28T12:34:14.649-07:00Comments on dangerous idea: What does causation mean? Victor Repperthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10962948073162156902noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-25444046009595413552015-07-29T00:29:05.760-07:002015-07-29T00:29:05.760-07:00I would say that some A causes B means that a mech...I would say that some A causes B means that a mechanism be shown to exist between A and B. <br />In the smoking-cancer example, if one is able to trace a biochemical pathway between smoking and cancer, only then it would be justified to impute cancer on smoking.<br />Otherwise, it is just correlation when one does epidemiological number-crunching, <br /><br />The requirement of a mechanism, generalized in modern physics in a more abstract way ("mass-energy causes space-time to curve") is related to Anscombe's examples of causation in everyday life.Gyanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09941686166886986037noreply@blogger.com