Copyright August 2008 Dean L. Gano

Abstract
The notion of causation has been a major item of discussion throughout time. Unfortunately, each new theory of causation simply regurgitates and revises past philosophies, resulting in a lexicon of fanciful terms with little practical application. Today, our high tech world requires a much clearer and more practical understanding of causation than that provided by the philosophers of yesteryear. This paper discusses the historical perspectives on causal thinking from the earliest sources, the limitations thereof, and the evolution of a Principium of Causation—which allow us, for the first time, to understand and communicate the complex causal relationships common in all human events.

Introduction
Causal thinking is the process of understanding the causes of a given event such that we can control them to our advantage. Since the dawn of human thought, asking why has allowed us to better understand the world around us and thus control real world variables to better meet our needs. However, it has taken tens of thousands of years of human thought for us to develop a theory of causation that consistently defines known events, every time. Today, there are many causal analysis tools that attempt to provide a structured problem-solving method, but only one works every time. There is change analysis, differences analysis, hazards analysis, barrier analysis, failure modes and effects analysis, fault tree analysis, cause trees, and many categorical “root cause analysis” schemes, but none of these provide essential principles of causation, [1], known as a principium that apply to every event, every time. Indeed, the fact that there are so many different approaches further demonstrates the lack of a cause-and-effect pricipium.
In a time when all that was needed was how to put food on the table and procreate, humans only had to understand simple causal relationships, such as spear kills dear; dear eaten; hunger satisfied; time for bed. Today however, in a world with increasingly complex economic, social, and environmental problems, the need to clearly understand complex causal relationships may make the difference between the survival and extinction of the human species. [2]
In order to understand why we have failed to develop a principium essential to effective problem solving, understanding the past will help us discover a new way of thinking about causation. Let’s see what history can teach us.

Learn more about the history of causal thinking.

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[1] Gano, Dean L.; Apollo Root Cause Analysis – A New Way of Thinking; p. 178; copyright 1999, Third Edition 2007; by Apollonian Publications, LLC.
[2] Perrow, Charles; Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies, p. 304 - 356; Copyright 1999 by Princeton University Press