How to tell the difference between just argument and causation weakening questions

ewinters0329

Could someone clarify the best way to tell the difference between weakening questions where the argument is a simple argument and where the argument involves causation? Is it that the causation argument involves a change in a phenomenon? Does this always hold true? I guess anyway that in each instance, you are still attacking the "support," as providing an alternative explanation for a causation is not attacking the hypothesis or phenomenon, but it would still be helpful to know when to pull out my causation logic skills.

Jonathan Wang

Arguments involving causation are a subset of arguments generally. You weaken every argument the same way - by attacking the support relationship - so that's what you do with causation arguments too. Your question is sort of like asking how you can tell the difference between an apple and a fruit.

As for how to identify them - this is possibly an instance of jargon getting in the way of your thinking. Causation is exactly what it sounds like - it refers to "A causes/caused B" type of thinking. Is the author saying that A causes/caused B? If so, you whip out causation logic. No? Leave it at home.