This video discusses Aristotle's four causes
causality
Does quantum mechanics provide a counterexample to the law of causality?
In this video, I consider the claim that quantum field theories show particles can come into existence randomly without cause, and that this is a counterexample to the law of causality.
NOTES
Objections to Law of Causality from Quantum Mechanics
- Problem 1: nothing is there to cause virtual particles to appear
- These particles are coming out of a vacuum
- A vacuum is nothing
- So, there is no cause
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- O1: quantum vacuum isn't nothing
- O2: physical laws aren't nothing
- O3: mathematical equations can't pick up causation
- Problem 2: the particles appear randomly
- O1: A cause can cause something indeterminately, so that's not a problem
- O2: hidden variable theory
Further Reading
Law of Causality: Imagination Objection
The Law of Causality states that whatever begins to exist requires a cause (or, alternatively, no potential can be actualized unless something already actual actualizes it). In this video, I look at David Hume's objection to the Law of Causality.
NOTES
Hume's Imagination Objection to Law of Causality
- What is imaginable is possible
- We can imagine an object beginning to exist without also imagining its cause
- So, an object can begin to exist without a cause
- R1: we conceived of the pterodactyl beginning to exist w/o conceiving of its cause at the same time, which is not the same as conceiving of the pterodactyl beginning to exist without a cause
- R2 (GEM Anscombe):
- How do you know you're picturing the pterodactyl coming into existence?
- Maybe, this is what you pictured:
- pterodactyl at location A
- Teleports to location B like an alpha particle
- You are picturing the second part of that
- Maybe also
- pterodactyl at location A
- Particles ooze over like gas
- Manifest at location B
- You see the second part of that
- So, this isn't a proof you can imagine a pterodactyl coming into existence without a cause
- O1: pterodactyls don't come to be in a place by teleporting like alpha particles or gas
- R1: they don't appear uncaused either
- I.e., this objection appeals to the nature of pterodactyls
- If we're allowed to do that, then the game is up
- By nature, pterodactyls appear by parents
- They don't appear causeless
- I.e., this objection appeals to the nature of pterodactyls
- R1: they don't appear uncaused either
- R3: empirically supported