The Logic of Causation is now available in print (386p. A4) in hardcover ($40) and paperback ($25) editions (plus shipping expenses),
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The
Logic of CAUSATION and VOLITION
and Allied Causal Concepts were originally intended to constitute,
respectively, parts I and II of a larger work called:
CAUSAL
LOGIC
Definition,
Induction and Deduction of Causation, Volition and Allied Cause-Effect
Relations.
©
Avi Sion, 1999-2010.
All rights reserved.
The two works were finally published separately, but it is well
to keep in mind that they are intended to be one or to complement each other.
To paraphrase my explanations
in chapter 1.1 of The Logic of Causation:
Causality refers
to causal relations, i.e. the relations between causes and effects. This
generic term has various, more specific meanings. It may refer to Causation,
which is deterministic causality; or to Volition, which is (roughly put)
indeterministic causality; or to Influence, which concerns the interactions
between causation and volition or between different volitions.
The term
‘causality’ may also be used to refer to causal issues: i.e. to negative
as well as positive answers to the question “are these things causally
related?” In the latter sense, negations of causality (in the positive
sense) are also causality (in the broad sense). This allows us to consider Spontaneity (i.e. causelessness, the lack of any causation or volition) as
among the ‘causal’ explanations of things.
A study of the
field of causality must also include an investigation of non-causality in all
its forms. For, as we shall see, even if we were to consider spontaneity
impossible, the existence of causality in one form or other between things in
general does not imply that any two things taken at random are necessarily
causally related or causally related in a certain way. We need both positive
and negative causal propositions to describe the relations between things.
... [causal
logic] has three major goals, as does the study of any other type of human
discourse.
(a)
To define what we mean by [causality] (or its absence) and
identify and classify the various forms it might take.
(b)
To work out the deductive properties of [causal] propositions,
i.e. how they are opposed to each other (whether or not they contradict each
other, and so forth), what else can be immediately inferred from them
individually (eduction), and what can be inferred from them collectively in
pairs or larger numbers (syllogism).
(c)
To explain how [causal] propositions are, to start with, induced
from experience, or constructed from simpler propositions induced from
experience.
Most endless
debates about causality in the history of philosophy have arisen due to
failure to first deal with technical issues. Once these [technical]
goals are fulfilled, in a credible manner (i.e. under strict logical
supervision), we shall have a clearer perspective on wider [epistemological
and ontological] issues....
Although I have now published Phase III of my research, it does not mean that I consider the research completed
and now closed. I
hope in the years to come (G-d willing) to further clarify various issues, and
solve various outstanding problems.
I know from past experience that
as one advances in one's research, one's accumulated discoveries often
encourage a radical review of many initial positions and approaches. Such a
'revolution' occurred for me in passing from Phase One to Phase Two
of The
Logic of Causation, for instance. This is precisely the point and the nice
thing about such research, that it makes it possible for our thinking to evolve.
If our opinions are the same at the beginning of it as at the end, it cannot
have been of much use! The justification of research work is how much it
enriches our thought, broadening our scope and teaching us nuances, freeing us
from ignorance and misconceptions.
So do come back here occasionally and check out
developments. Thank you for your interest!
Avi Sion.
The
Logic of Causation
Volition
and Allied Causal Concepts