Cause and effect may seem omnipresent in our everyday lives, but in quantum mechanics – and by extension, contemporary philosophy – it’s a notion that’s riddled with controversy. In this video from the interview series Closer to Truth, Barry Loewer, a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University, discusses why Bertrand Russell believed causation was an outdated notion that had no place in modern thought. Countering Russell, Loewer details his own view that causation can and should be rescued from the dustbin of physics history, including why his name for the concept takes inspiration from a Coen brothers character.
Bertrand Russell wanted to kill off causation. Can contemporary philosophy rescue it?
Video by Closer to Truth
24 January 2023
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