causation and kant

Necessity of Causal Judgments and particular laws of causation

Sahar Heydari Fard

R11290057

Introduction

Kant had been faced with a ground braking critique, based on causation, which could be terminated by attenuation of metaphysics and science in general. Distinction between a priori and a posteriori judgments and proving the possibility of metaphysics and science as a priori synthetic knowledge, was his response to such critique. He introduced a system in which judgments could be granted as necessary, according to a priori concepts of understanding. One of these concepts is causation, which he introduces as the principle of temporal sequence according to the law of causality.

In this paper I will argue that the law of causality is divided to general and empirical law of causality. General law of causality earn its necessity from the fact that, even observing temporal sequences, require the concept of causation, yet, particular laws of causality cannot be necessary in this way. Accordingly, science should answer how it can have necessary judgments such as “ A is the cause of B”.

In the first section I will address the main problem in more detail, and the following section the Kant response toward the general law of causality would be discuss.

Chapter three is basically about the meaning of causation. Also some objections will be introduced, which they are basically referring to the necessity of having particular causal laws in order to solve such problem.

I will demonstrate the role of particular laws of causality, also to what extent they could grant necessity to the favorable answer, in next two chapters.

1.Methodological formula for making laws

Observing what is happening in science, Hume and all empiricists may cons...

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...p stream, then midstream and finally down stream.24

Or A⊃B⊃C concerning the principle of continuity, which Kant mentions it in; “The principle of continuity forbade any leap in the series of appearances (alterations) (in mundo non datur saltus), but also any gap or cleft between two appearances in the sum of all empirical intuitions in space...”, it is necessary for the ship to be upstream in order to be midstream.

Consequently, A can be known as the cause of B, and B as the cause of C.

Example 2: when sun shines a stone, it grows warm.25

Existence of a heat source is necessary for every thing to get warm.

Or the concept of heat source is necessarily connected with warmth.

The concept of sunshine is standing under the heat source genus.

Sun shining on a stone is followed by growing warm.

Sunshine is the cause of the warmth of stone.