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    If our best scientific theories describe causal regularit... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→There must be particular causal laws relating preceding events of type A to succeeding events of type B, which are themselves strictly universal and necessary.

    If our best scientific theories describe causal regularities that are probabilistic or heavily qualified, then strict universality and necessity are not required features of particular causal laws.

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics are our most empirically successful theories, yet they describe only probabilistic regularities.
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    • 2.Causal laws should map onto the actual structure of reality rather than conform to pre-existing philosophical definitions of 'law'.
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    • 3.Strictness requirements (universality, necessity) are historically contingent philosophical impositions, not prerequisites for causation itself.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Probabilistic regularities describe statistical patterns, not causal laws—they require underlying deterministic mechanisms to explain them.
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    • 2.Without universality and necessity, we lose the ability to distinguish causal laws from mere accidental correlations or statistical artifacts.
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    • 3.Calling probabilistic regularities 'causal laws' conflates descriptive adequacy in prediction with explanatory adequacy about causation itself.
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    Key Terms

    Causal laws(the general principles governing cause and effect)
    Rules of nature that describe how one thing causes another to happen—the predictable patterns we see in the world.
    Probabilistic(describing the method used)
    Dealing with likelihood and chances rather than certainty; things that are probably true based on odds and statistics.
    causal regularities(as used in philosophy of science)
    Patterns in nature where one thing consistently causes another to happen in a repeatable way.
    heavily qualified(as used in logic and philosophy)
    When a rule or statement has lots of conditions, exceptions, or fine print attached to it rather than being straightforward.
    necessity(Auriol's modal theory of future contingents)
    The property of necessarily being the way something is; equivalent to immutability in Auriol's modal theory
    strict universality(Required for a genuine objective law; cannot be derived from purely inductive inference)
    Universality that admits no exceptions and is grounded in necessity, not induction.

    Connections

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    Causation1 linked

    Related

    Calling probabilistic regularities 'causal laws' conflates descriptive adequacy ...Causal laws should map onto the actual structure of reality rather than conform ...Probabilistic regularities describe statistical patterns, not causal laws—they r...Quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics are our most empirically successful ...

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    Strictness requirements (universality, necessity) are historically contingent ph...There must be particular causal laws relating preceding events of type A to succ...Without universality and necessity, we lose the ability to distinguish causal la...