David hume's conception of the principle of causality and the problem it creates in african metaphysics

Abstract

The study attempts to understand the status of the principle of causality. In experimental science it is held to be cardinal on grounds that every scientific experiment presupposes a cause. Hume however, who is the principal scholar in this study denies the principle a real status and argues instead that it is founded on custom, a tendency of expecting that like causes will always be followed by similar effect. Thus the connection between cause and effect is not in an instance (event) but in the mind (psychological). The study introduces an African dimension of the status of the principle of causality and argues that the classical scientific view has flaws and that Hume's denial is contradicted by what actually goes on within African traditions. It would also be shown that in the African view, the principle is in dispute when iTlv~ing events considered extra-ordinary ..... ~- or traumatic. The principle objective is to demonstrate that the connection

between cause and effect exist and cannot be denied.