PHI 1101 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Cern, Higgs Boson, Formal And Material Principles Of Theology

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Mark Brown

Document Summary

A causal claim is an assertion about the cause of something. A causal argument justifies, or supports, such a claim. Hume formulated the basic analysis of casual relationship. A causes b, if these conditions are met: if a is continuous to b, if a is prior to b, if a and b are constantly conjoined (constant conjunction) or necessary connection. To claim a casual relationship between events a and b is to say: when a occurs, then b occurs. Move from a premise that 2 things are associated or correlated to a conclusion that the first is not merely correlated with, but causes the second. Ex. exposure to high levels of second-hand smoke is correlated with lung cancer. Thus, exposure to high levels of second-hand smoke causes lung cancer. Note that: casual argument is a special case of inductive generalization.