ABSTRACT
Few people would be seriously perplexed by the discovery that swans may be black; the appearance of a white peacock is interesting but not alarming. The plain man quite well understands how to use the word "cause". There would be such an intrinsic difference if all uniformities were causal connexions. The statement of a causal uniformity is a generalization; consequently, it involves abstraction. Certain factors in the total situation are neglected as being irrelevant. The thing has also non-causal characteristics relating to the kind of primary characteristics exhibited by its states. The states of the thing have determinate characteristics. Probably no logician to-day would contend that J. S. Mill's treatment of causation is satisfactory. Nevertheless, the inquiry as to what exactly Mill's theory was and in what respects it was unsatisfactory will throw light upon the conception of cause since his theory resulted from an attempt to refine the common-sense notion.
