Change and Causation? I need arguments for the points given.?

Question

Is the scientific notion of cause the best?

~It states cause and effects have to be related.
~It starts off with a particular event and culminates in another.
~Both the events are someway connected i.e. the simple example of smoke and fire where fire isn't present without smoke.
~Effects are uniform if the same causes are presented i.e. if a set of people are given a same cause they will come up with the same result(the obvious argument is where does individual differences come in play? but i need some more too).
~It is one sided i.e. the cause can only cause the effect and not vice versa. for e.g the process of curdling. Milk curdles to form curd, but curd cant be changed back to milk.
~No plurality of causes exist i.e. One cause has only one effect and every effect has only one cause.

Please suggest arguments for this view...

Answer 1

Causation is a very weak scientific concept. I see smoke and the fire. But how do i KNOW that one was caused by the other. For all i know Smoke came AFTER the fire, but not because of.
Also what is causation? When does it occur? Can i see it?
In short causation might not even exist.

Answer 2

Best of What?
~Yes
~Yes
~Yes
~Many variables come into play here. Actually most in the set will come up with a different result based on their background and stage in their life.(along with other factors)
~No, Of course the cause results in the effect, but that effect could become a cause for another effect. And curd along with whey can be changed back into milk through liquification. (although I wouldn't advise drinking it!)
~Not at all. One cause could have many effects, and vice-versa. The process of spoiling milk causes both curds and whey, hence two effects from one cause. Also, A cow must gestate before she can produce milk and a farmer must also milk the cow in order to get it and curdle the milk, thus two causes generate one effect. I hope that helps!

Answer 3

People tend not to understand causes. An event can only have one cause, but a single cause can be a series of effects. For instance, if you're shot and poisoned, the cause of your death is either being shot, or being poisoned. But if you wouldn't have died if it wasn't both, then the cause was "Shot and poisoned" but that's not two causes, it's one.

Causes are also extremely specific. "Shot by Johnny at 12:13 on August 14th with a..." etc etc is one specific cause. We generalize causes, but doing that is somewhat inaccurate.

Answer 4

What the f**k r u babylon about.