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Cause and effect concept doubt

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Cause and effect concept doubt

by hellother » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:56 pm
Hi,
Can somebody please clarify this for me ?

Let us say : A causes B.

It says in my book that " The author assumes that A is the only cause of B " . So is it same as saying
" If A occurs, B also occurs " ? A(sufficient condition) ----> B(necessary condition) ."The author also assumes that " No alternative causes exist ie If B occurs, A also occurs." .So it is same as B(sufficient condition) ----> A(necessary condition)?
Combining we get A(sufficient condition) <------> B ( necessary condition) ??

Is this correct ? I think I am wrong because this is not explicitly stated in my book . So, if I am wrong, please clarify my question....

Thanks in advance....
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by ankit0411 » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:14 pm
hellother wrote:Hi,
Can somebody please clarify this for me ?

Let us say : A causes B.

It says in my book that " The author assumes that A is the only cause of B " . So is it same as saying
" If A occurs, B also occurs " ? A(sufficient condition) ----> B(necessary condition) ."The author also assumes that " No alternative causes exist ie If B occurs, A also occurs." .So it is same as B(sufficient condition) ----> A(necessary condition)?
Combining we get A(sufficient condition) <------> B ( necessary condition) ??

Is this correct ? I think I am wrong because this is not explicitly stated in my book . So, if I am wrong, please clarify my question....

Thanks in advance....
What I understand from a causal effect is .

X causes Y. This implies X is the only cause of the effect Y.

It is not necessary that if X takes place then Y has to take place, but if Y is true then X has to be true, to be the cause of Y.

And yes when x-->y , no other alternative cause exists that lead to y.

Experts, any thoughts?

Hope that helps.
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by mohan514 » Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:16 am
hello there
i am sure that your sourse is not powerscore
because your explanation as per that book is a wrong answer to trap us

it says if x occurs y occurs ,

if two things occur at simultaneously or consecutively, it does not imply that one event has caused the other

may be experts can further prove it using some example
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by hellother » Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:53 am
Thanks for the reply...

I am talking about a situation where the stimulus specifically states " A causes B "... not a situation in which the stimulus says " A and B occur simultaneously".

So if the stimulus says that " A causes B " , will my previous A(sufficient condn)<----> B ( necessary condn) hold true ? And I have already mentioned that the book does NOT state this explicitly. It is just my inference and I want to know whether my inference is right or wrong ? If wrong , where am I wrong ?
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by ankit0411 » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:06 am
mohan514 wrote:hello there
i am sure that your sourse is not powerscore
because your explanation as per that book is a wrong answer to trap us

it says if x occurs y occurs ,

if two things occur at simultaneously or consecutively, it does not imply that one event has caused the other

may be experts can further prove it using some example
No , I have mentioned If X leads to Y that means X is the cause and Y is the effect.
There is no other alternate cause that leads to Y.
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by ankit0411 » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:08 am
hellother wrote:Thanks for the reply...

I am talking about a situation where the stimulus specifically states " A causes B "... not a situation in which the stimulus says " A and B occur simultaneously".

So if the stimulus says that " A causes B " , will my previous A(sufficient condn)<----> B ( necessary condn) hold true ? And I have already mentioned that the book does NOT state this explicitly. It is just my inference and I want to know whether my inference is right or wrong ? If wrong , where am I wrong ?
No I don't think your inference holds true. B does not become a necessary condition as per my understanding. And I'm not even sure why are you referring to it as sufficient or necessary condition?

It's a simple causal effect.
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by hellother » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:20 am
I know... But please clarify this....

When the stimulus says " If A occurs , B occurs .", we map it like A(suff condn)--->B(necessary condn).
Right ? So when the stimulus says " A causes B ",and when the answer choice says that B has occurred,
then is it ok to map it as B(suff condn) ---> A( necc condn) ? Since B has already occurred and must have been caused ONLY by A ( because that is what the author assumes). Also since B has occurred(according to the answer choice), A also has occurred(since this is the only cause)..
so A(suff condn)---> B(necc condn) ? I have written so, because if the effect occurs, the cause also occurs.. and it has been given in the answer choice that the effect B occurs.
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by ankit0411 » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:31 am
hellother wrote:I know... But please clarify this....

When the stimulus says " If A occurs , B occurs .", we map it like A(suff condn)--->B(necessary condn).
Right ? So when the stimulus says " A causes B ",and when the answer choice says that B has occurred,
then is it ok to map it as B(suff condn) ---> A( necc condn) ? Since B has already occurred and must have been caused ONLY by A ( because that is what the author assumes). Also since B has occurred(according to the answer choice), A also has occurred(since this is the only cause)..
so A(suff condn)---> B(necc condn) ? I have written so, because if the effect occurs, the cause also occurs.. and it has been given in the answer choice that the effect B occurs.
Yes, I got your point. So it goes like this.

X->Y . X only leads to Y . if this is the case in the premise you strengthen it by saying that yes X is the only cause, which leads to Y. If Y occurs X also holds true.

To weaken the above effect, you show that X is not the only cause,which leads to Y and there is an alternate cause leading the effect Y. Hence X is not the ONLY cause leading to the effect Y.


Is this okay ?
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by hellother » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:59 am
Ya..Thanks for the reply....

One thing that confused me was a statement in my book ...

For a " Strengthen cause and effect reasoning question ", it stated that

Strengthen the argument by using the following.
1) Show that when the cause occurs , the effect also occurs

But wouldn't it be a more appropriate statement if it were written that

"Show that when the EFFECT occurs , the CAUSE also occurs" ... according to the statement that
B occurs only if A occurs
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by ankit0411 » Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:36 am
hellother wrote:Ya..Thanks for the reply....

One thing that confused me was a statement in my book ...

For a " Strengthen cause and effect reasoning question ", it stated that

Strengthen the argument by using the following.
1) Show that when the cause occurs , the effect also occurs

But wouldn't it be a more appropriate statement if it were written that

"Show that when the EFFECT occurs , the CAUSE also occurs" ... according to the statement that
B occurs only if A occurs
Dont confuse yourself too much with this theory :). Powerscore has a lot of theory so be careful with what to grasp :)

The above statements should be good enough to do strengthen and weaken questions :)
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