Bierce
January 17, 2008
by Nate
"EFFECT, n. The second of two phenomena which always occur together in the same order. The first, called a Cause, is said to generate the other--which is no more sensible than it would be for one who has never seen a dog except in the pursuit of a rabbit to declare the rabbit the cause of a dog."
--From The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce
Comments
On January 17 at 2'24 PM
, Michael Sullivan wrote:
The rabbit is the final cause of the dog’s running.
This definition smacks of Hume and is dumb.
On January 17 at 4'43 PM
, hb wrote:
Wait, it’s not eating the rabbit? Or satisfying hunger? Or being the best possible dog?
On January 18 at 10'13 AM
, Michael Sullivan wrote:
Final causes can be multi-layered, of course.
On January 19 at 12'19 PM
, hb wrote:
Okay, good.