Okuzeka
Philosophy vocabulary · Metaphysics

Causation

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/kɔːˈzeɪʃən/nounCommon term

In philosophy, causation means: The relation between a cause and its effect, in which one event or state brings about another.

In Turkish: nedensellik, neden-sonuç ilişkisi

How it is used

Hume argued that we never observe a necessary connection between cause and effect, only constant conjunction. Modern theories analyze causation in terms of regularities, counterfactuals, probabilities or physical processes. Causality is a near synonym.

Example sentences

  1. Correlation is not causation: ice cream sales and drownings both rise in summer.

  2. Hume's account of causation shaped the whole later debate.

Common collocations

  • theory of causation
  • mental causation
  • causation and correlation
  • counterfactual theory of causation
  • determinismThe view that every event, including human choices, is fixed by earlier causes together with the laws of nature.
  • metaphysicsThe branch of philosophy that studies the basic nature of reality: what exists, what things are, and ideas such as time, cause, identity and possibility.
  • post hoc fallacyA fallacy that assumes that because one event happened after another, the first event must have caused the second.
  • inductionReasoning from observed cases to a general conclusion or a prediction, where the premises make the conclusion likely but not certain.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Metaphysics

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: