Simon Blackburn - What is Causation?

In a 'billiard-ball world' of Newtonian science, causation was obvious—things had to touch each other in space and a cause always had to precede an effect. But quantum mechanics destroys such notions. What then is causation? Moreover, must causes always be physical? Is 'mental causation' a coherent concept? What about 'top-down causation'?


Simon Blackburn is a British academic philosopher known for his work in quasi-realism and his efforts to popularize philosophy. He obtained his doctorate in 1970 from Churchill College, Cambridge.


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[mathbrainius]

Causation is indeed THE fundamental problem in science along with the illusion of time. Thanks for this interesting video!

[charlesje]

I like this guy. His responses were clarifying without advocating a particular view.

[reimannx]

This man is very articulate. Clear, precise, and insightful.

[Havre_Chithra]

I love that way of describing the issue: Causation doesn't hit the eye in the same way colours do.

[Robinson]

He mentions the block universe is the way to understand backwards causation, but the block universe is actually fully based on Einsteins forward directed time dilations and the speed of light. I feel it is directing us to imagine a presentist block universe instead, with a small 'thickness' in which backward causation moves from the surface of the universe (future/present) to the bottom of the block (the quantum past - but not the past like the world we live in, it is limited in its temporal reach then)

[aesirvanir]

These are such lovely conversations. As Hume himself said, upon leaving the comfort of his study to take a stroll outside -- he suddenly finds himself to think like everyone else! Crossing streets is a dangerous endeavour when skepticism about causality is part of one's daily Modus Operandi. We are _necessitated_ to adopt *causality* as a (subjective) transcendental category with which we describe phenomena that occur in our experiential models of the world. The attempt to explain causation _in_ _terms_ of those phenomena appears to be mistaken.

[qwadratix]

QM doesn't destroy our notion of cause and effect. It challenges our understanding of space and time. The mathematics of QM show that our understanding of reality, which is based on our evolutionary necessities of survival is not complete. In fact it appears to be beyond our ability to conceive. We lack the kind of mental landscape needed to encompass it.
Fortunately for us, we do have these mathematical systems which so far seem to work, so all hope isn't lost.

[evfast]

That moment where something you deduced on your own turns out to be a very simple and raw form of a clearly defined philisophical concept from hundreds of years ago.
At least it was Hume...

[johnbuckner]

good interview...Wonder if you could get David Ray Griffin on your channel. He's got some interesting ideas on causation.

[PicturesJester]

Causation isn't our mind reading its own habits or customs in the world, it is a reality of the way we create explanations. We create them assuming the correctness of the logic of causation. So the necessity for causation doesn't rise in ourselves, but in our knowledge.

[billnorris]

A very interesting interview.. I couldn't grasp the importance of distinguishing a difference between EXPECTING something to happen, and knowing it will, but there was much here to consider. Dr. Blackburn mentioned the block universe theory.. THIS would be a place where causation becomes less meaningful. (Meaningless?)

[sadovniksocratus]

Cause and effect is omnipresent in our everyday lives, as well as in quantum mechanics.
And if in modern philosophy this concept (cause and effect) causes controversy,
then this is due to a misunderstanding of the essence of quantum mechanics.
----
''If you are not completely confused by quantum mechanics, you do not understand it''
/ John Wheeler /
''Quantum mechanics makes absolutely no sense'' /Roger Penrose/
"Nobody understands quantum mechanics and that's a problem". /Sean Carroll/

[observer]

causation is the bumping of events as time affects experience

[gustavosanthiago]

I think Hume and the Buddha (or Nagarjuna) would have a great time talking about causality! 😅

[piehound]

I just LOVE the way Professor Blackburn speaks English. And at the same time sort of wringing his hands. Fascinating. Of course his logic and his knowledge are also impressive. hahahaahahaha

[martinbennett]

Hume's concept of an event seems to be separable from causation, however I do not think we have a concept the of an event without antecedent causes. (I take this to be a component of Kant's response)

Nevertheless this does not deny Hume's point that the causal consequences are not known to us outside experience and that even with some experience though we might expect that a collision between two physical objects will have causal consequences, without more specific experience we would not know whether the interaction would lead to an elastic rebound, deformation, disintegration (or a combination of these).

[vinayseth]

Hm-but how would a view without causation explain away causation at a macroscopic scale: for example, if I do a hundred pushups every day for the next 3 months, I'm bound to get a better physique on my upper body. Now, would the block universe picture state that me being buffed up in the future CAUSED me to work out in the past? Even then, I'm not able to picture the causal link being broken!

[konberner]

I love Hume. Yes, he said "you've got to suck it up" on many things, including the is/ought distinction. What has followed since he made these brilliant observations is people have mostly ignored them without ever refuting them. They go to Ipse Dixit: I say causation is universal law, therefore it is. I say morals are objective, therefore they are. In other words, they go into delusion, ideology, and dogmatism and hope that this will replace truth, science, and reason.

[Jussaynoh]

I love Hume, yet Schopenhauer’s explanation remains my favorite.

[romliahmadabdulnadzir]

We don't want to be born and die, but it has to happen (causation)