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Who: Kimball Corson. Text and Photos not disclaimed or that are obviously not mine are copyright (c) Kimball Corson 2004-2016
Port: Lake Pleasant, AZ
09 April 2018 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
An Informed Atheist Re-Addresses Christianity
10 March 2018 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
A Progressive Reform Program for America
10 March 2018 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
Supply Side and Libertarians Are Wrong and Not Supported by the Data
10 March 2018 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
How Income Inequality Injures People and the Economy
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
A Democratic Reform Program for America
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Supply Side Libertarians Are Wrong and Not Supported by the Data
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Rise of Economic Ignorance
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Rise of Income Inequality (Part VI)
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Rise of Income Inequality (Part V)
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Rise of Income Inequality (Part IV)
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Rise of Income Inequality (Part III)
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Rise of Income Inequality (Part II)
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Rise of Income Inequality (Part I)
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
Racial Hatred Is Confused
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
What To Do About North Korea
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
On Neoliberalism
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
Ban Hate Marches and Assemblies
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
On Miss Piggy and Mr. Pork
22 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
The Demise of the Democratic Party
09 August 2017 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
On Elitism

Causation

25 September 2014 | Pago Pago, American Samoa
Kimball Corson
Often Misunderstood Notions of Causation

A lack of understanding of the concepts of causation muddles many peoples thinking and makes statements like "correlation is not causation" ambiguous at best. Aristotle thought there were four forms of causation: material causation, formal causation, efficient causation and final causation. His distinctions are not as useful as they could be.. But here is the crude idea. Assume we have a bronze statute, as the effect, and we ask, what is the cause of it? Aristotle answers that question by saying:

1) The material cause: "that out of which", e.g., the bronze of a statue.
2) The formal cause: "the form", "the account of what-it-is-to-be", e.g., the shape of a statue.
3) The efficient cause: "the primary source of the change or rest", e.g., the artisan, the art of bronze-casting the statue, the man who gives advice, the father of the child.
4) The final cause: "the end, that for the sake of which a thing is done", e.g., health is the end of walking, losing weight, purging, drugs, and surgical tools.

This is the notion of "causation" being about aspects of something. It is less interesting than some. It targets "why" as to one or another aspect. More to the point is the idea of causality or causation being the relation between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a physical consequence of the first.

In common usage, causality is also the relation between a set of factors (causes) and a phenomenon (the effect). Anything that affects an effect is a cause of that effect. A direct cause is one that affects an effect directly, that is, without any intervening factors. (Intervening factors are sometimes called "intermediate factors or causes".) The connection between a cause(s) and an effect in this way can also be referred to as a causal nexus. This is a much more useful perspective.

Within this framework, we have --

Necessary causes:
If x is a necessary cause of effect y, then the effect of y necessarily implies the presence of x. The presence of x, however, does not imply that effect y will occur.

Sufficient causes:
If x is a sufficient cause of the effect y, then the presence of cause x necessarily implies the presence of effect y. However, another cause z may alternatively cause the effect y. Thus the presence of effect y does not imply the presence of cause x.

Contributory causes:
A cause x may be classified as a "contributory cause", if the presumed cause x precedes the effect AND altering the cause x alters the effect y. An experiment is implied..

Contributory causation does not require that all those x variables which possess contributory causation, experience or lead to the singular effect y. It also does not require that all those variables which are free of contributory causation also be free of the effect. In other words, a contributory cause may be neither necessary nor sufficient but it must be contributory, that is, be altering.

We badly muddle these notions in our every day thinking when we consider the idea of causation. It is a good idea to keep them in mind.
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Vessel Name: Altaira
Vessel Make/Model: A Fair Weather Mariner 39 is a fast (PHRF 132), heavily ballasted (43%), high-aspect (6:1), stiff, comfortable, offshore performance cruiser by Bob Perry that goes to wind well (30 deg w/ good headway) and is also good up and down the Beaufort scale.
Hailing Port: Lake Pleasant, AZ
Crew: Kimball Corson. Text and Photos not disclaimed or that are obviously not mine are copyright (c) Kimball Corson 2004-2016
About:
Kimball Corson: I am a 75 year old solo sailor, by choice. However, I did take on a personable, but high maintenance female kitten, now a full grown cat, named KiKiPoo when she is sweet, or KatKatPo after she has just killed something like a bird or bat. [...]
Extra:
Although I was a lawyer and practiced law with good success for thirty years, creating significant new law, I never really believed in the law, the politics of law or in the over reaching self-interest of most lawyers I met. Too much exposure to Nietzsche and other good and seriously thoughtful [...]
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Profile

Who: Kimball Corson. Text and Photos not disclaimed or that are obviously not mine are copyright (c) Kimball Corson 2004-2016
Port: Lake Pleasant, AZ