The multicausality is a rational principle which states that every phenomenon has multiple causes. The philosophical concept of causality refers to the relationship that exists between the effect and the origins that led to that outcome.
The word multicausality is composed of three parts and to better understand its meaning it is necessary to decompose it, so that each one can be analyzed in detail.
"Multi-" is a prefix that comes from the Latin multus, which means "many." It can be used in conjunction with a noun such as "facet" or "national" to form compound words like multifaceted and multinational.
"Causal", in this case, functions as a noun that means motive, reason or factor that produces something else. It is normally used in feminine (the causal instead of the causal).
"-Ity" is a suffix, from the Latin -itās, which means "quality of". The suffix "–ity" is used at the end of a word to describe the preceding word as a quality; for example "loudness" implies that something has the quality of sound.
Multicausality would then be "quality of multiple causes"; In other words, something that is mentioned is the product of various origins.
This compound term is widely used in the social and natural sciences. In the social sciences, under the principle of causality, every event has causes that originate it.
These causes are linked to each other, in a particular order, and they interact to produce the effect.
Multicausality in the social sciences
For example, in economics and social sciences, the 2008 financial crisis was multi-causal because it was caused by the collapse of the US housing bubble in 2006, which in turn was caused by the mortgage crisis that caused a liquidity crisis.
The result of this crisis was originated by multiple causes. But in turn, the result itself was the cause of the international economic crisis that affected the world economy during the first half of 2009.
In multicausality, the result or consequence of being a cause for another multicausal event is not exempted.
On the contrary, the origin of the next result is extended based on the multicausal history that precedes it, creating a snowball effect.
Multicausality in the natural sciences
In the natural sciences, multicausality is also observed in various phenomena. For example, in medicine cancer can be classified as a multicausal disease.
This is so because it develops based on various factors, which act together and lead to this disease.
Although the result of cancer is the uncontrolled division of cells in the body, its origins are the interaction of multiple risk factors, including environmental, economic, lifestyle, and genetic predisposition factors.
The interaction of these factors can lead to cancer, which is why it is considered a multicausal disease.
Multicausality is also studied from the philosophical, statistical, computing and especially physics perspectives.
In fact, under causal determinism, all events in the universe are considered to be the consequence of a level of multicausality so complex that it becomes confused with chance. Chaos theory studies these phenomena in depth.
References
- Wiktionary - multi-, causal, -idad en.wiktionary.org
- Wikipedia - Causality en.wikipedia.org
- Logical Instinct - Scientific determinism in Newtonian science instinctology.com
- Wikia - Meaning of multi-causality answers.wikia.com
- Data, observables and facts - On the observablesyhechos multicausality.blogspot.com
- Dictionary of the Spanish Language - causality, multi- dle.rae.es