Seite - 73 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

HANADI (MANUAL) 73 our definition to what Aristotle called “efficient cause”. The ‘efficient cause’ is the cause for something else appearing or occurring. In this episode, the kids are surprised that the- re is no water, and they ask what might have caused this. The dam is the cause (efficient cause) for the lack of water, which is the effect or consequence of closing the dam. It is not always easy to understand when something is a cause and when it is an effect. Sometimes, several causes are involved and we do not know which ones are the most im- portant or decisive, or which cause is really necessary (without which the event would not take place) and which sufficient (a cause which is enough to ensure that the event takes place). We also sometimes find correlations between events, and we regard them as causes. Finally, another common mistake is to see correlations as relations of causality. Things become even more complicated when we talk about humans doing things. Once the children find out the cause of there being little water, they wonder why Rufino closed the dam. In this case, rather than talking about causes, we now turn to discussing the reasons or explanations for human behavior. It is not enough to know who closed the dam; we also need to know why he did it, although in this case “why” is the same as “what for”. We need to know the purpose that motivated his action. In order to discover “why”, we need to know if the action was intentional or accidental, and we must know what he is trying to obtain. We face a double complication. On the one hand, because it is not always easy to establish causality (or to say why people do things or what they do those things for). On the other hand, it is complicated because, as the children in the story say, we must not only explain human actions, but we must also find out if those actions are justified. This means we must see if there are reasons to justify that these actions are morally acceptable. At this point the discussion has moved from wanting to know what has happened to trying to decide if what the owner has done is fair. You can find further resources on the concept of “reasons” in the manual to Ella, episode 2, leading idea 6 “Reasoning”; and in the manual to Christian, episode 3, leading idea 2 “Good Reasons”. Exercise: Causes and effects Analyze the following sentences and decide which part of the sentence describes the cause, which part describes the effect, or if the sentence does not express a cause- effect relation. 1. The street is full of huge puddles due to heavy rain. 2. Lightning struck the tree and then came thunder. The tree burned. 3. The street sellers put up their stalls in the area where the most people passed by. 4. The passers-by preferred walking down the streets with the most shops. 5. The climate is changing and temperatures are getting hotter every year. 6. Higher temperatures are a direct consequence of human activity, especially high energy consumption. 7. It has not rained for two months and many plants are drying out. 8. She learned martial arts for self-defense. 9. Once she had mastered martial arts, she started intimidating people in her neighborhood. 10. The driver turned the steering wheel and the front wheels turned left, thus let- ting the car enter the parking lot. 11. The young boy started smoking the day after his 16th birthday. 12. Juan fell while riding his bicycle and broke his arm.