Friday 5 June 2015

Using 'Condition' To Unite 'Cause' And 'Manner' As 'Consequential'

Martin (1992: 193):
Within consequential relations the basic opposition is between how and why.
MANNER (sufficient conditions)
[4:55] How did you win?
— By training hard.
CAUSE (necessary conditions)
[4:56] Why did you win?
— Because we trained hard.

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is a fundamental category error.  Cause ('why') and manner ('how') are logically distinct categories.  The error is compounded by subsuming both under 'consequential', a feature of a third logical type: condition.

[2] It is a category error to construe the distinction between manner and cause as the distinction between sufficient and necessary conditions.  

sufficient condition for some state of affairs S is a condition that, if satisfied, guarantees that S obtains.  A necessary condition for some state of affairs S is a condition that must be satisfied in order for S to obtain.

The manner training hard is not a condition that guarantees we did win.
The cause we trained hard is not a condition that must be satisfied for we did win.

See also necessary and sufficient causes here.