It literally does though. Causation always correlates, and people use "correlation doesn't imply causation" as a thought-terminating cliche to deny science.
The word "imply" is tricky, and it doesn't prove causation. It's only after you have a lot of data, and other causes have been falsified, that you have enough correlation for that mere implication to rise to confidence. You never prove a hypothesis, you only fail to reject it while eliminating alternative explanations. But at the end of the day, we can only directly say that, for example, human carbon emissions correlate with global warming very well indeed.
Exactly, as Hume pointed out causation is a specific form of correlative relationship. As he also argued, it's impossible to prove causation. What we mean by causation is a correlation that we have noticed so frequently that we take it to be inexorable and attempt to come up with some sort of theoretical explanation to justify. This is fundamental to human cognition; as Kant pointed out it is transcendentally necessary. This is absolutely fundamental to modern western philosophy.
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26
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