The Vastness of the Laws of causality between creations

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Types of Causes Des c r i p tion of the laws of Causality

According to some philosophers the problem of cause and effect is the first and oldest step in philosophical studies that has attracted human minds to solve the mystery of about its own existence. The understanding of the laws of cause and effect is necessary for those who have great thinking powers because this clarifies that there is a cause for every creation. This is the reason the question “Why?’ rises in the human minds but if he did not understand the meaning of cause and effect and the laws of continuous connection in creation then this question would not have arisen in his mind.(1)

The truth is that is the word “why” which is the cause of all human knowledge. It is this question that compelled man to study the beings and events in this world.

In other words the base of all knowledge is the law of continued connection of creation and all knowledge is regarded as its reflection or sign. If this law is taken away from knowledge then there is nothing left. In the same way if the laws of continuous creation is destroyed then the great philosophical structures will razed to the ground. We have to admit that it is this law that is the base and help of all knowledge and philosophy.

The Source of recognizing the law of Causality

The question that arises here is how man recognized the law of causality or the law of cause. We will have to back in life to answer this question to the time when we had just attained a semblance of mental maturity.

A child touches the fire and feels the pain of heat, he does it a second time and feels the pain again and when he does it many times he is sure there is connection between putting his hand in the fire and feeling the heat. . In the same way when he his thirsty he drinks water and feels relived when his thirst is quenched but when he does it repeatedly he is sure about the connection between drinking the water and feeling relieved.

When he tries this sort of an experiment in other matters then he becomes sure that every creation and new thing has some cause and so he becomes aware of the law of causality

As he ages he will acquire experience about the daily occurrences and thus understand this law of causes later through philosophical discourses and proofs. We certainly do not say that the occurrence of two activities one after another is the cause but we say that activity is repeated so that the connectivity between them is evident. Those who subscribe to the idea that the law of causes is connected to experiences means nothing but that he considers everything to be based on experiences and then through his mental prowess is able to successfully unravel the cause. Actually he gains one through his senses and the other through his intelligence because the place of complete laws is the mind or intelligence and is attained through intelligence only whiles the sense and experiment help to attain the knowledge about the experience. The mind then collects all effects and causes and comes to a conclusion about it.

Some thinkers believe that the law of causality which is attained has been obtained from the knowledge already contained by the soul and is connected with the actions of the soul. They clarify their stand by saying that human soul realizes certain issues connected with it e.g. all types of imaginations, thoughts, determinations and resolve.

These are the deeds of the human soul and its effect. We can discover the law of causality through the connectivity between these deeds and the soul. They have cited the saying of Abu Ali Sena to confirm their view which says, “If a person presumes that continuous causes can be deciphered through senses and feeling then he is mistaken because our power of sense tells us nothing but the proximity between two things (2)

This idea is a very erroneous one. It may be that the thinkers have not understood the meaning of what Bu Ali Sena said because it is the philosopher’s work to analyze the soul and its deeds not of ordinary men When the laws of causality is understood by all even children. There is no doubt that they have everything through their sense experiences as we have explained earlier. Until the intelligence analyzes the experiences and put it forward as a determined concept we will not have anything like the law of continuous creation or cause. The object of Bu Ali Sena may have been the same. This idea is not acceptable but we do admit that it is possible for the thinkers to understand the law of causes through senses as well as through the deeds of the soul.

There is yet another proof other than these and that is if we deny the laws of causes or continuous creation then nothing will be the cause of the creation of something else and everything will just evolve out of one another and then we will have to deny all intellectual argument also. Then no special proof can be used to come to a logical determination but this cannot be and no intelligent person will accept this so it is necessary to accept that the law of causes is found both in the human intellect as well as outside experiences.





1. Usul Falsafa Vol.3 page 175 (Excerpts)
2. “Al Shifa’” Part One first article page 8.

 

Types of Causes Des c r i p tion of the laws of Causality
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