PHI403 Lecture 02 — Do We Need Causation in Science?

Presents the causal scepticism challenge: Russell (1913) claimed causation does not appear in advanced physics — F=ma is a symmetric equation, not a directed causal claim, and "the law of causality, like much that passes muster among philosophers, is a relic of a bygone age". The lecture defends causation against this dismissal on three grounds:

Experiment requires causal intervention ("why spend money on research if we cannot intervene?").
Observation is a causal relation between object and observer.
Application of scientific theories to problems requires that theories track causes.

Russell himself recanted in 1948. Equations model reality but are not reality; mathematics is a tool, not a replacement for causal theory. Science "is successful and useful because we can use it to get what we want by making changes" — an interventionist argument for causation's ineliminability.

The lecture frames the course's guiding commitment: concepts/causation is real and indispensable to science, even if contested in its details.

Connections

Back-link: sources/2023-anjum-rocca-phi403-causation-in-science. Concepts: concepts/causation · concepts/interventionist-theory-of-causation · concepts/philosophical-bias.