The Rienzi, a passenger ship, sank as a result of a hole in its hull, possibly caused by sabotage. Normally, when a h...
MazenFebruary 15, 2020
Cause and effect relationships compared to sufficient and necessary relationships
Hello,
How do the cause and the effect match with the sufficient and the necessary? Cause=Sufficient, an Effect= Necessary?
If it's a carrot, then it is a vegetable. Accordingly, it is a vegetable because it is a carrot?
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I wouldn't try to apply sufficient and necessary reasoning to cause and effect. They are generally not the same. To apply sufficient and necessary reasoning, we need to have conditionality. We are looking for if/then, unless, only if, etc. Per your example, we wouldn't make any causal inference about carrots being a vegetable.
The first sentence introduces a possible cause of the Rienzi's sinking. I imagine this is the cause and effect statement you are referring to. However, there is no conditional reasoning here, which is why I am not going to try to label sufficient and necessary statements. Rather, I would diagram the next sentence, which does have conditionality. It is complicated slightly by the presence of "usually," but we can still apply the same principles.
If a ship sinks this rapidly, which we know it did, then it will normally not fully flood. SR - - - - (usually) - - - - -> not FF
Full flooding can be achieved by sabotage. FF - - - (possibly) - - - - > S
If it sinks when not fully flooded, it will implode. not FF - - - - - - - - - - > I
The Rienzi did not implode. Therefore it did not fully flood. Therefore it could have been sunk by sabotage.
not I - - - - - - > FF - - (possibly) - - > Sabotage
If there was no sabotage, then we have no explanation for why it flooded so quickly. Therefore, the Rienzi was flooded at an unusual rate.
