Everything2
Near Matches
Ignore Exact
Full Text
Everything2

Causal

created by Webster 1913

(idea) by stash (1.8 mon) (print)   ?   1 C! I like it! Fri Jul 07 2000 at 2:03:36

A type of causality.

Used to describe a relationship between two events separated by distance in a temporal dimension. A causal relationship is one such that the occurrence of one event in dependent upon the occurrence of the other. Thus describing something a relationship as acausal means that the events in this relationship are not dependent upon each other. Describing a single event as acausal would imply that the event is not dependent upon any other event in order to manifest itself (I think this is impossible).

Examples:
Causal--: I cut my finger ---> My finger bleeds
Acausal--: I cut my finger ---> The phone rings

Causality may refer to specific events in time or general trends among classes of events. The latter would be a statistical or probabilistic description. E.G. Cigarette smoke causes cancer.

Whether or not a relationship is causal or acausal, the property is not necessarily permanent for all similar relationships. That is, just because two events are causal once doesn't mean similar events will always be causal. E.G. If I buy a lottery ticket and win a million dollars, this is not necessarily repeatable.


(definition) by Webster 1913 (print) I like it! Tue Dec 21 1999 at 22:23:55

Caus"al (?), a. [L. causalis. See Cause.]

Relating to a cause or causes; inplying or containing a cause or causes; expressing a cause; causative.

Causal propositions are where two propositions are joined by causal words. Watts.

 

© Webster 1913.


Caus"al, n.

A causal word or form of speech.

Anglo-Saxon drencan to drench, causal of Anglo-Saxon drincan to drink. Skeat.

 

© Webster 1913.


printable version
chaos

causality Fake causality Maunder minimum Casual
causal sex continuity fascist Bayesian Network gender-neutral pronoun
My favorite piece of grammar Tocharian Building Faith from the movie Dogma System Dynamics
System Martin Luther's 95 Theses Religiophobia The Strong Programme
a priori point sources Everything2 ethnographic research
post hoc ergo propter hoc Which came first: the chicken or the egg? manifest z-transform
Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.
  Epicenter
Login
Password

password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Cool Staff Picks
Just another sprinkling of indeterminacy
1793
Fung Wah Bus
Around nine PM my heart was breaking so I went to bed early to listen to it happen.
The Third Man
Rotring 600
Sylvia Pankhurst
Peking duck
On being sane in insane places
Denny's
Public Transportation
Ghost Dance
Pithing the frog
futhark
New Writeups
FrankThomas
How and why do we (humans) have culture?(essay)
lee_cad
Isaac(person)
kalen
downvota(poetry)
Andrew Aguecheek
Wstfgl(thing)
ncc05
overheard at IHOP(event)
calgon
Bottomless(poetry)
lismaraxt
Ice Theory of The Origin of Life(idea)
allthetime
Apple Cinnamon Suicide(idea)
Lucy-S
shovelglove(idea)
Adaptive Child
Mexican secret sauce(recipe)
Adaptive Child
nacho libre(recipe)
TheLady
Iron Man(review)
Scaevola
Risk in the Roman law of sale(idea)
semicolon
overheard at IHOP(event)
choirotey
Violent pickup lines(idea)
This page courtesy of The Everything Development Company