Time and Causality

Abstract

An eternal problem in the social sciences is that of determining direction of causality. This is not unique to these disciplines, since it also appears with the same force, for example, in the medical sciences or in astronomy. Most of the natural sciences are able to resolve the problem through the application of experimental methods. Such is not possible for the human sciences. Thus, no unequivocal means is available to determine causality where experimentation must be excluded. Various indirect methods must be applied. The more mutually-confirming approaches used, the more confident may we become that we are perhaps succeeding in isolating a cause.