The repeated co-occurrence of two events does not establish that one causes the other. Temporal precedence alone is insufficient without a demonstrated mechanism of action.
[1] ref. Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748If manipulating variable X under controlled conditions consistently changes Y, then X causes Y. Intervention is the gold standard for establishing causal links.
[2] ref. Woodward, Making Things Happen, 2003When multiple sufficient causes exist for the same effect, isolating the cause becomes impossible. Every effect is overdetermined in a complex system.
[3] ref. Lewis, Counterfactuals, 1973C causes E if and only if C raises the probability of E, ceteris paribus. Causation is not deterministic but probabilistic in all observable systems.
[4] ref. Suppes, A Probabilistic Theory of Causality, 1970X Granger-causes Y if past values of X contain information that helps predict Y beyond what Y's own past provides. A statistical, not metaphysical, claim.
[5] ref. Granger, Investigating Causal Relations, 1969There is no single correct analysis of causation. Different contexts demand different causal concepts: mechanistic, counterfactual, probabilistic, interventionist.
[6] ref. Hall, Two Concepts of Causation, 2004“We may define a cause to be an object followed by another, where all the objects similar to the first are followed by objects similar to the second.”-- David Hume, 1748
“The cement of the universe is not logical necessity but regular conjunction.”-- J.L. Mackie, 1974
“Causation is something that happens in the world, not something that happens in our heads.”-- Nancy Cartwright, 1983
“Every event has a cause is not a truth of logic but a claim about the structure of reality.”-- Bertrand Russell, 1913
“To explain an event is to provide some information about its causal history.”-- David Lewis, 1986
“Correlation is not causation but it sure is a hint.”-- Edward Tufte, 2006