Ground Zone: Definitions and Concepts About Causality

This inaugural chapter provides a comprehensive exploration of causality, delving into its philosophical, symbolic, and scientific dimensions. Beginning with an operational definition using propositional logic ('Α → Β'), the chapter extends this symbolic approach to encompass multicausal scenarios, offering logical representations for diverse causal relationships. Distinct types of causality are categorized, including deterministic predictability, probabilistic relationships, statistical patterns, intentional human agency, emergent properties, and goal-oriented causation. These classifications provide nuanced perspectives on causation, acknowledging their coexistence and overlap across disciplines. The chapter extends its focus to epidemiology, scrutinizing debates on monocausal explanations and advocating for a multifactorial approach. Influential figures such as Sir Austin Bradford Hill, Geoffrey Rose, Michael Marmot, and the World Health Organization are highlighted for their contributions to understanding health determinants. Emphasizing that causality is a cognitive construct shaped by our perception of reality, the chapter stresses the importance of temporally defining causal events and using epistemic tools for exploration. Symbolic representations, geometric visualizations, and layered conceptualizations are presented as essential approaches for comprehending causality, especially where mathematical equations may be insufficient.