Causation

The act or agency of a cause in producing an effect; the act or agency by which an effect is produced. Cau's ative, a. [Fr. causatif.] That expre es a cause or reason; that effects a cause. Cau's atively, adv . In a causative manner. Causa'tor, n. ( Law ) A litigant; one who takes the part of the plaintiff or defendant in a suit. Cause, ( kawz ,) n. [Fr., from Lat. causa . Etymol. uncertain.) That which brings about any change in the state, condition, circumstances, . of things; that which produces an effect. "Cause is a substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be."-Locke. -Reason; motive to anything; incitement; origin. "Eneas wond'ring stood then ask'd the cause Which to the stream the crowding people draws." -Dryden. -Purpose; design; pursuit; that which a person or party espouses. "Ere to thy cause, and thee, my heart incl in'd, Or love to party had seduc'd my mind." -Tickell. ( Law . ) A suit or action. Any question, civil or criminal, contested before a court. - In Civil law , the consideration or motive for making a contract. (Philos.) That by which something known as the effect is produced, and without which it could not have existed. Four kinds of causes have been distinguished by logicians: the material, the efficient , the formal , and the final . The material cause of a thing is that out of which that thing is made; in other words, that which is the ground of the po ibility of a thing's coming into existence: e.g. the marble out of which a statue is made. The efficient cause is that in which resides the moving power requisite in order to render the po ible existence actual; as the sculptor. The formal cause is that which must supervene to the matter, in order to give the thing its precise individual existence as that thing and no other; as the shape which the sculptor communicates to the marble. This distinction is derived originally from Aristotle, with whom it is rather a metaphysical than a logical determination. The final cause of the thing is that very thing in its completene ; as the statue when made. See ARISTO TEL I AN ISM. - The various opinions as to the nature and origin of the principle of causality in the human mind are ranged by Sir W. Hamilton into two great categories, - the one comprehending those theories which consider this principle as em pirical , or à posterior i , - that is, as derived from experience; the other, those which view it as pure , or à prior i , -that is, as the condition of intelligence itself. These two primary genera he subdivides into several subordinate cla es. (See Lectures on Metaphysics, vol. ii. p. 385, et seq.) He attempts to explain it by what he terms "the law of the conditioned," or the law of limitation: that we are unable, on the one hand, to conceive of nothing becoming something; and, on the other hand, of something becoming nothing; that we are utterly unable to realize in thought the po ibility of the complement of existence in the universe being either increased or diminished. Ex nihilo nihil , in nihilum nil po e revert i , expre es, according to him, "in its purest form, the whole intellectual phenomenon of causality." This explanation, however, is not generally received by philosophers. - The Doctrine of final causes, which, with Aristotle, was merely an inquiry into tendencies, has, by the theologians of modern times, been employed to establish the truth of a divine providence. The argument from final causes, according to Dr. Reid, when reduced to a syllogism, has these two premises:- 1. That design and intelligence in the cause may, with certainty, be inferred from marks or signs of it in the effect; and 2. that there are the clearest marks of design and wisdom in the works of nature; the conclusion being, that the works of nature are the effects of a wise and intelligent cause. Cause, v . a. To produce; to occasion; to bring into existence; to effect by agency, power, or influence. Causele , a . Having no cause; without just ground, reason, or motive. Causele ly, adv . Without cause. Causele ne , n. State of being causele . Caus'er, n. He or that which causes. Cause'way, Cau's ey, n. [Fr. chau ée , a paved road; L. Lat. calceata , from calceus , a covering for the foot, a shoe, from calz , calcis , the heel; Port, calçada ; Sp. cal zada. A carriage-road supported at a slight elevation above the surface of any marsh-lands, or water, which it may be found advisable to traverse; it differs from a viaduct, which is supported by piers and arches, whilst in a causeway the road is carried by an embankment, or by a low retaining wall. Cau's eyed, a . Furnished with a causeway or causey. Causid'ical, a . [Lat. causidicus , an advocate; causa , a cause, and dicere , to say.] Pertaining, or relating, to an advocate, or special pleader. Cau ade', a town of France, dep. Tarn-et-Garonne, 12 m. N.E. of Montauban. Manuf. Woolleus and linens. Pop. 4,436.