Overview Potentialism Examples Conclusion Footnotes Bibliography
This essay comprises elements of the critical discussion of an alternative approach to the concept of causality. So far, philosophical theories of causality have postulated that the causal connection between events is encouraging or supportive. The alternative discussed here assumes that there is no such thing as support of one event for another. It starts from the idea that the influence between events is inhibitory at best. Simply put, causality is inhibition.
This assumption does not stand alone. It goes hand in hand with a cosmological theory that describes events as realizing possibilities. Degrees of realization and the interpretation of relative probability as a measure of inhibitory effects allow for the use of mathematical means to describe a changing reality.
The philosophical theory proposed here, or “potentialism” for short, only provides a partial answer to the question how events interact causally. It does not answer the question how this inhibitory effect is conveyed as, for example, Descartes' theory of push does. All in all, the proposed theory erects a scaffolding for theories to come.
Overview Potentialism Examples Conclusion Footnotes Bibliography