PHI 1101 Midterm: PHI Midterm 3 Notes

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Christopher Mc Grath

Document Summary

Causal reasoning: - a kind a inductive reasoning. Constant conjunction - when two things occur such that when one occurs the other always follows. Cause is a state of affairs which constantly conjoined to another state of affairs called the effect. Explanation - the explanation (a cause is a way to explain) Is this enough to reliably identify causes: an adequate understanding of the cause will involve identifying the necessary and sufficient conditions of the effect. A condition/factor - a basis for some state of affairs to occur; one state of affairs that is involved in another"s occurring. Necessity - a factor that is required for the state of affairs to occur (if it"s not there, the sof cannot occur) Sufficiency - a factor that is adequate for the state of affairs to occur (if it"s there, the sof is guaranteed to occur) Jointly sufficient conditions - when multiple conditions, when taken together, are sufficient.