(5) To regard the Co-Effects (whether simultaneous or successive) of a
common cause as standing in the direct relation of cause and effect.
Probably no one supposes that the falling of the mercury in his
thermometer causes the neighbouring lake to freeze. True, it is the
antecedent, and (within a narrow range of experience) may be the
invariable antecedent of the formation of ice; but, besides that the two
events are so unequal, every one is aware that there is another
antecedent, the fall of temperature, which causes both. To justify
inductively our belief in causation, the instances compared must agree,
or differ, in one circumstance only (besides the effect). The flowing
tide is an antecedent of the ebbing tide; it is invariably so, and is
equal to it; but it is not the cause of it: other circumstances are
present; and the moon is the chief condition of both flow and ebb. In
several instances, States that have grown outrageously luxurious have
declined in power: that luxury caused their downfall may seem obvious,
and capable of furnishing a moral lesson to the young. Hence other
important circumstances are overlooked, such as the institution of
slavery, the corruption and rapacity of officials and tax-gatherers, an
army too powerful for discipline; any or all of which may be present,
and sufficient to explain both the luxury and the ruin.
(6) To mistake one condition of a phenomenon for the whole cause. To
speak of an indispensable condition of any phenomenon as the cause of
it, may be a mere conventional abbreviation; and in this way such a mode
of expression is common not only in popular but also in scientific
discussion. Thus we say that a temperature of 33° F. is a cause of the
melting of ice; although that ice melts at 33° F., must further depend
upon something in the nature of water; for every solid has its own
melting-point. As long, then, as we remember that 'cause,' used in this
sense, is only a convenient abbreviation, no harm is done; but, if we
forget it, fallacy may result: as when a man says that the cause of a
financial crisis was the raising of the rate of discount, neglecting the
other conditions of the market; whereas, in some circumstances, a rise
of the Bank-rate may increase public confidence and prevent a crisis.
We have seen that the direct use of the Canons of Agreement and
Difference may only enable us to say that a certain antecedent is a
cause or an indispensable condition of the phenomenon under
investigation. If, therefore, it is important to find the whole cause,
we must either experiment directly upon the other conditions, or resort
to the Method of Residues and deductive reasoning; nor must we be
content, without showing (where such precision is possible) that the
alleged cause and the given phenomenon are equal.
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