GRGR3: Cause/Effect

[Ralph Howard]

Stefan Schuber writes:

> 
> On the subject of cause and effect I'd like to recommend Ambrose Bierce's 
> wonderful definition in the _Devil's Dictionary._  I don't have it at 
> hand, but as I recall he hypothesizes a dog chasing a rabbit, from whence 
> he draws the perfectly positivistic conclusion that the rabbit is the 
> cause of the dog.
> ss
> 

Here the exact entry:

Effect, n.  The second of two phenomena which always occur together in
the same order.  The first, called a Cause, is said to generate the
other--which is no more sensible than it would be for one who has
never seen a dog except in pursuit of a rabbit to declare the rabbit
the cause of the dog.


Cheers,

Ralph




-- 
Ralph Howard                    Phone:  (803) 777-2913 
Department of Mathematics       Fax:    (803) 777-3783 
University of South Carolina    e-mail: howard at math.sc.edu
Columbia, SC 29208 USA          http://www.math.sc.edu/~howard/