On 10/21/2016 2:05 PM, Jerry LR Chandler wrote:
The role of efficient causality is extremely perplex in life and in the chemical sciences.
That is true of all the sciences, especially physics. When I used the word 'modern', I meant the informal use by Hume. But as early as the 17th century, physicists discovered that the differential equations by Newton and Leibniz (local "efficient" causation) could be derived by minimizing integral equations. That minimum could be interpreted as global "final" causation. For a summary of the history, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_action Peirce understood and used that mathematics in his research in measuring gravity, in his analysis of the experimental error, and in his design of better instruments that minimize the error. The operations of the instruments are determined by the math. It makes no sense to talk about which aspects of the instruments or their operation are the causes or the effects. With general relativity and quantum electrodynamics, the equations and their explanations become far more complex. In technical discussions, physicists never use the word 'cause'. When they develop theories and use them to solve problems, they focus on the math. If they use the word 'cause', it's only in short, informal, nontechnical, approximate explanations. Peirce knew the full history from the ancient Greeks to the early 20th century. He even anticipated some aspects of relativity and quantum mechanics. Unlike Einstein, he would have been delighted by the discovery of tychism in QM. John
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