process studies supplement...
Process Studies Supplement 8, 2005
On Determinations of Causal Connection with Respect to Environmental Problems: Hume, Whitehead, and Hegel
Adam ScarfeIn relation to David Hume’s statement that “it is an infinite advantage in every controversy to defend the negative” (Immortality 331), this paper argues against the potential instrumental exploitation of the unresolved Humean epistemological lacunae surrounding causality in order to discount determinations of the causal connection between ecological problems and human actions. Two particular case issues are analyzed: 1.) global warming and 2.) the “effects” of oil dumping on human health. To this end, the paper provides systematic philosophical examinations of Hume’s, Whitehead’s, and Hegel’s respective standpoints on causality, with an emphasis on the contrast between the notions of empirically observable “necessary connections” and “separations.” It further makes the case that by treating the Whiteheadian and Humean overall perspectives concerning causality as “moments” within a Hegelian dialectical framework, respectively, we may arrive at a balanced, three-fold “process” approach to making determinations regarding causal connection. Within this three-fold conception, on the one hand, Humean skepticism provides the motive power for rigorous scientific inquiry and for critical scrutiny regarding scientific hypotheses concerning environmental problems, in light of the potential overstatement of Whitehead’s holism. On the other hand, Whitehead’s position undercuts the potential employment of unmitigated Humean skepticism as a Semmelweis reflex in relation to any determination of a causal connection in respect to ecological problems and human actions. In accord with Hegelian manners of philosophizing, in virtue of the dialectical working out of these two moments, determinations of causal connection stemming from scientific inquiry may proceed in a third, unifying moment. The paper raises a subsequent issue (dealt with in a note at the end of the essay): that Whitehead’s overall cosmological scheme, in its overcoming of substance ontology, forces us to rethink traditional Aristotelian notions of causality in a more “process”-oriented and holistic way.