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What is the definition of cause and effect?
Cause and effect is a system of logical reasoning where evidence and proof are presented to show how an event took place or how something happened.
The cause is simply the reason for the occurrence of an event, while effects include the outcomes of the event that occurred (outcomes of a cause).
The cause and effect logical reasoning asks, “how did this happen?”. Here, there is a good explanation of how an event occurred or what happened.
In this type of logical reasoning, there must be a sufficient or necessary condition for any event to occur. This sufficient or necessary condition for the occurrence of such an event is called its cause.
The sufficiency or necessity of this cause is of great importance for the cause to be valid.
The definition of a sufficient condition and a necessary condition
A condition is said to be sufficient for an event if the event must occur in the presence of such a condition, i.e., a condition that, once put in place, the event must occur.
A necessary condition for an event is a condition in whose absence the event will not occur. It is a condition that must be present for an event to take place, such that whenever the condition is not in place, the event will not occur.
Let us take, for instance, three conditions:
(a) food. (b) water. (c) air.
As we know, these three conditions are essential for the existence of life on Earth. However, analysing them logically, we have that:
The three conditions, (a), (b) and (c) put together, make a sufficient condition for the existence of life on Earth because once they are present, life must occur.
Individually, the three conditions form the necessary conditions for the existence of life on Earth because, in the absence of food, life would not occur on Earth, and nor will there be life in the absence of water and air. Thus, these three are individually necessary conditions for the existence of life on Earth.
With this, we can note that the necessary conditions for the occurrence of an event can be more than one. However, these necessary conditions must be included in the sufficient conditions.
Types of causes
The causes of events in logical reasoning include:
Principal cause: This is the principal or most important reason an effect occurred.
Examples:
Ferran is always sick because he does not eat well.
The principal cause here is “he does not eat well”.
Immediate cause: This is a cause occurring just immediately before the effect.
Examples:
Declan hit Adam after he found out that Adam had eaten his food.
The immediate cause here is “Declan hit Adam”.
Common cause: This type of cause is a cause that results in the occurrence of two different effects in a given statement. This cause is, however, unmentioned. This is called the common cause of the two given effects.
Examples:
1st Statement: There is a high shortage of food due to the increased death of plants.
2nd Statement: The water bodies are drying up.
The common cause of these two effects is “there is a drought”.
Examples of cause and effect questions
Here are some examples of cause and effect questions.
- The player handled the ball in the 18-yard box, and the referee blew his whistle.
What are the causes and the effects of this statement?
Cause: The player handled the ball in the 18-yard box.
Effect: The referee blew his whistle.
- Rohan did not water his plants, and they withered.
What are the causes and the effects of this statement?
Cause: Rohan did not water his plants.
Effect: The plants withered.
- The man was arrested because he stole.
What is the cause and the effect of this statement?
Cause: The man stole.
Effect: He was arrested.
- The class teacher died because he did not receive treatment when he was ill.
What is the cause and the effect of this statement?
Cause: The class teacher did not receive treatment when he was ill.
Effect: He died.
- The trees dried up due to a lack of water.
What is the cause and the effect of this statement?
Cause: Lack of water.
Effect: The trees dried up.
- The car could not complete the journey because it did not have enough fuel.
What is the cause and the effect of this statement?
Cause: The car did not have enough fuel.
Effect: It could not complete the journey.
- I could not meet up with the appointment due to some personal reasons.
What is the cause and the effect of this statement?
Cause: Some personal reasons.
Effect: I was not able to meet up with the appointment.
The relation between cause and effect and verbal reasoning
Verbal reasoning tests a person’s ability to think constructively and understand concepts that are hidden in words.
Verbal reasoning shares the same aim as cause and effect. Both are geared towards evaluating a person’s ability to think creatively and logically, decoding sentences and statements to get the hidden meaning.
Both deal with words, sentences as well as vocabulary.
Someone who can break down a cause and effect statement to find the cause and effect in the statement will do well in verbal reasoning because both share a lot in common.
Conclusion
Cause and effect is an essential part of logical reasoning, where proof is provided to show and explain how events took place.
This type of logical reasoning seeks to know how an event occurred by asking, “how did this happen?”. Two conditions are required for an event: the necessary and sufficient conditions.
Cause and effect is a good way of improving reasoning abilities.
