vol 25 no2,2025

Philosophical Formations of the Principle of Causality According to David Hume and Bertrand Russell

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Philosophical Formations of the Principle of Causality According to David Hume and Bertrand Russell

Suzan Emad Aldababsa

Faculty of Arts

University of Jordan/Jordan

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Received :14/10/2023 Accepted :18/04/2024

Abstract:

This research sheds light on the prominent manifestations of the principle of causality in modern and contemporary philosophy of science to understand the foundations upon which it was built and the key elements upon which it relied. It does so by elucidating the perspective of the empiricist philosopher David Hume on the principle of causality and the contemporary philosopher of science, Bertrand Russell, on this principle. This research seeks on the one hand, to discuss the causal relationship as it crystallized in David Hume's view, considering it as empirical, emerging from his theory of knowledge. Hume rejected the principle of necessity, regarding it as merely a practical life principle necessary for existence rather than knowledge. This led him to deny the existence of a mental necessity governing the principle of causality because the supposed necessity, according to him, is a psychological necessity linked to custom and repetition. On the other hand, this research presents the causal relationship in the perspective of Bertrand Russell, who reestablished the principle of causality by discussing the problem of induction. He believed that the existence of something of type A is evidence for the existence of something of type B. According to Russell, causes temporally precede their effects, demonstrating the possibility of repeating past events in the future, albeit in a probabilistic and possible manner. The associations that occur in the causal relationship can either happen or not happen because what guarantees such causal predictions are the laws of motion that explain natural phenomena. According to him, causes do not necessitate their effects. To clarify the topics of this research, the researcher employed a comparative analytical approach.

Keywords: Causality, Probability, Necessity, David Hume, Bertrand Russell .

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