梅勒的因果观及其启示性意义

The Significance of Mellor's Causation View

梅勒的因果观是建构在其时空观基础上的一种新型因果理念,它秉持着"将因果关系中的‘因与果’同现实世界中的‘原因事件与结果事件’相区别"的做法,为解决因果研究中存在的诸多问题提供了新思路。在梅勒看来,现实世界中的"原因事件"和"结果事件"在结成因果关系之前是一种既非充分也非必要的关系,只有当相互发生作用时才会产生因果联系,二者之所以会发生作用是因为它们之间存在着一种公共属性,而且这种公共属性通过研究是可以被发现的。当二者结成因果关系时,其中的"因与果"则既是同时的也是同地的。梅勒的这种新型因果理念不仅为解决"因果的本质性问题、因果的必然性问题、因果的可知性问题"提供了新路径,而且为诠释因果关系与时空关系提供了新方法。

Mellor＇s new view of causation is based on his theory of space-time, in which the distinction should be made between the cause and effect in causation and the event of cause and event of effect in real world. In Mellor＇s view, there is no necessary nor sufficient relations between event of cause and event of effect until they formed cause-and-effect relationship,and the cause-and-effect relationship forms when the event of cause and event of effect have effect on each other.The reason why they can have effect on each other is that there is a common attribute between them which could be found in study. Then the cause and effect generate in the same place at the same time once they form cause-and-effect relaiionship. Mel- lor＇s new theory of causation provides a new method not only to solve the problem of the e^sense, necissity, knowability of causation, but also to inter- pret the relationship between causation and space-time.