Cause and Effect

This time I read the cause and effect website and the cause and effect chapter. I got a lot out of these two readings. First I saw how causal claims were used. Causes are claims in a sentence that have an effect on the end result. Also there must be a strong correlation between cause and effect. Thus in cause and effect every time this happens, that happens. The website uses an example of a traffic accident to show cause and effect: A bicyclist moves into the traffic lane in order to pass a truck illegally parked in the bike lane. The driver of a car approaching from the rear slams on her brakes in order to avoid hitting the bicycle. A following car fails to stop in time, and smashes into the back of the first. The insurance companies disagree about who should be held responsible, and they go to court to decide who caused the accident. Additionally they break down the accident into three factors to determine the strength of the casual argument.

1. how acceptable or demonstrable the implied comparison is (for example, do we think that there is a basic similarlity in most respects between the circumstances of this accident and those of the many other times bicycles and cars have traveled on this street safely;
2. how likely the case for causation seems to be (for example, do we think that a bicycle swerving into an car's lane can cause an accident?);
3. how credible the "only significant difference" or "only significant commonality" claim is (for example, do we believe that the illegally parked truck is the only significant difference between this case and the many other times bicycles and cars went down that street without an accident?).

So by breaking down this one case for the entire website I found that I learned a lot from this website and it cleared up my understanding of the book a little bit.