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Key Concept
Causal Argument: argues that there is a cause and effect relationship between certain conditions
Sometimes the cause and effect relationship between certain things can seem really clear cut. For example, if someone drops a vase, and the vase hits the floor and breaks, obviously that happened because the person dropped it. Or we can think of this scenario like this:
Seems pretty straightforward, right? But what if it’s not? What if the cause and effect relationship between the vase being dropped and the vase breaking is a little more complex? Let’s continue to explore this hypothetical situation more: couldn’t we also argue that the vase broke not because it was dropped, but because it hit the floor? If so, then our analysis of this situation would look a little different–maybe something like this:
Still seems pretty straightforward? Well, it certainly is if you’re considering only the direct causes of the vase breaking. What if we also consider indirect causes of the vase breaking. By bringing in indirect causes of the vase breaking things get a little more complex. For example, what if, through further research, we learn that the vase was dropped because the person holding it was startled by a nearby fireworks display (an indirect cause)? Our analysis then might look something like this:
Through further inspection, things could possibly become increasingly complicated. (Remember, as good researchers, it’s incumbent on us to always dig deeper when we’re researching!) For example, perhaps the vase hit a hardwood surface, as a opposed to a softly carpeted surface. Is the interior decorator implicated in things now? Are the interior decorator’s design choices an indirect cause of the vase breaking? Or, perhaps the person who commissioned the fireworks mailed out an announcement to notify those nearby that the fireworks would be happening and the person holding the vase thought it was junk mail and threw it in the trash without reading it. Is the holder of the vase, then, responsible? If so, it looks like we’re right back where we started!
While we’re not here to adjudicate who is responsible for the vase breaking, what the above hypothetical situation illustrates is that what we often think of as a straightforward cause-and-effect relationship can often be more complicated than it seems upon further inspection. Equally, this scenario illustrates how one can structure a causal argument, which argues that there is a cause and effect relationship between certain conditions.
And while the above scenario might seem fairly innocuous, that’s not always the case for causal arguments in the real world. Take for instance the 1985 firebombing of the MOVE house in West Philadelphia. MOVE is an organization that began in the early 1970’s. They practiced a communal lifestyle and argued in favor of justice for all, specifically for racial justice. After several years of growing tensions between the Philadelphia Police Department involving, among oth