[EDITOR’S NOTE: A.P. auxillary staff scientist Dr. Fausz holds a
Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech.] The most
fundamental axiom of science is Causality: the belief that every
material effect observed must have a sufficient cause preceding
or simultaneous with it (Miller, 2011). The observed motion of a
cart is difficult to explain, for example, unless we assume the
existence of an appropriately placed horse (figuratively
speaking, of course). Scientific philosopher Sir Karl Popper
wrote that the “rule” of causality “guides the scientific
investigator in his work” (1968, p. 61). Actually, Popper
refused to accept causality as a scientific “principle,” per se,
but instead stated as a “methodological rule” that we should
never “give up our attempts to explain causally any kind of
event we can describe” (p. 61). I will not be so picky, as I
believe that causality has been so thoroughly and consistently
demonstrated by observation to be readily considered axiomatic,
i.e., accepted without proof. Pop