causation
noun
Causation — the deep structure linking every cause to its effect
Definition
The act of causing something to happen
In depth
Causation is the act, or more often the underlying principle, of causing something to happen — the relationship by which one event necessarily or reliably produces another. The word carries significant philosophical and scientific weight, naming not any single instance of causing but the general pattern by which causes and effects are bound together.
Origin
The word descends from Latin causatio, an excuse or pretext, itself from causa, cause. Its modern philosophical prominence owes much to thinkers like David Hume, who famously questioned whether causation could ever be directly observed at all, or whether human minds simply infer it from the repeated, habitual succession of one event following another.
Usage examples
"The study was careful to distinguish correlation from genuine causation, a distinction too often blurred in popular reporting."
"Philosophers have debated the precise nature of causation since antiquity, with no fully settled answer in sight."
"She traced the causation of her illness back through years of small, accumulated stress."
How to use it
Causation is formal, analytical vocabulary at home in philosophy, science, and statistics, where the precise distinction between causation and mere correlation often carries enormous practical and ethical weight. It is too abstract for most casual or narrative prose.
Related concepts
Looking for a word but don't know its name?
Try the Word Finder →