But should we abandon our consideration because we don't understand? — Pattern-chaser
No it isn't. I keep looking at that link when you post it, and - surprise! - it turns out to be based on unjustified assertions and nothing else. Wishful thinking is what it looks like to me. — Pattern-chaser
And that cause is...? — Pattern-chaser
Does every effect have a cause, or is it possible for causeless effects to happen?
It seems to me that every effect has a cause, but is that simply because I was raised to think that way? A lot of our thinking assumes that effects are caused. It's difficult even to imagine otherwise. Is this because effects and causes are indivisibly and irrevocably linked, or our lack of imagination? — Pattern-chaser
Oh look! Another unjustified assertion! — Pattern-chaser
how is that an unjust assertion? — Christoffer
no evidence to back your claim; no reason for it to be true. You see? — Pattern-chaser
Does every effect have a cause, or is it possible for causeless effects to happen? — Pattern-chaser
I would add: I doubt anyone else knows either. — Frank Apisa
I do not know. Nor do I see any way to determine if it is more likely "Yes than no" or more likely "No than yes." — Frank Apisa
So if things within the universe are caused, what about the universe itself? ... We're left with two possibilities: either there is an infinite chain of causes, or there is an uncaused cause. Some of us argue that an infinite causal chain is impossible, while others insist it is possible. Take your pick. — Relativist
Janus
7k
I would add: I doubt anyone else knows either. — Frank Apisa
But despite your propensity to doubt that anyone else knows you should say, in strict accordance with your own philosophy:
I do not know. Nor do I see any way to determine if it is more likely "Yes than no" or more likely "No than yes." — Frank Apisa
since you only have a sample size of one who doesn't know to judge from. — Janus
Maths was not created. It just existed as a concept waiting for a discoverer. — Devans99
If it existed prior to our 'discovery' of it, where, in the real-life space-time universe, was it kept? What was its location? It couldn't be in human minds, because we hadn't yet 'discovered' it. — Pattern-chaser
no evidence to back your claim; no reason for it to be true. You see? — Pattern-chaser
How about most major publications in physics? Causality is a basic part of it, so what evidence do you mean doesn't exist? — Christoffer
As to the possibility of effects without causes, please define your terms in such a way as to make the discussion meaningful. — tim wood
From a strictly semantic point of view: no. Labeling something "an effect" implies it is an effect of something, and that "something" is its cause. In other words: there is a cause if and only if there is an effect. — Relativist
Concepts are not material so they don't exist in spacetime. I am not sure it can even be said of concepts that they 'exist' — Devans99
Concepts are discovered by intelligence, but different intelligences discover the same concepts; so they have independent existence of a non-material manner. — Devans99
Physics adopts cause and effect as an axiom, an unjustified assumption, honestly declared as such, because no form of proof exists for it. — Pattern-chaser
Physics doesn't just accept an axiom and form theories from it — Christoffer
axiom - A proposition formally accepted without demonstration, proof, or evidence as one of the starting-points for the systematic derivation of an organized body of knowledge. — Philosophical dictionary
something accepted with no evidence or proof. — Pattern-chaser
Define how? I have asked if we can consider the possibility of effects without causes. What further definition do you require? — Pattern-chaser
But there's lots of evidence for causality in physics. — Christoffer
It seems to me that every effect has a cause, but is that simply because I was raised to think that way? — Pattern-chaser
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