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Full Idea
If there were necessity to be found in causation, then the problem of induction would seem to be dissolved. The future would indeed proceed like the past if it were for all time necessitated what caused what.
Gist of Idea
If causation were necessary, the past would fix the future, and induction would be simple
Source
S.Mumford/R.Lill Anjum (Getting Causes from Powers [2011], 3.14)
Book Ref
Anjum,R.J./Mumford,S.: 'Getting Causes from Powers' [OUP 2011], p.82
A Reaction
My working hypothesis is that the essences of nature necessitate their interactions, and that the problem of induction is solved in that way. We can allow causation to be a process in this action, the transmitter of necessities. Or it could drop out.
Related Ideas
Idea 14550 We assert causes without asserting that they necessitate their effects [Mumford/Anjum]
Idea 14548 There may be necessitation in the world, but causation does not supply it [Mumford/Anjum]
Idea 14546 Necessary causation should survive antecedent strengthening, but no cause can always survive that [Mumford/Anjum]
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