What does causation mean?
Causation is the relationship between a cause and its effect: the fact that one event or condition brings about another. It functions chiefly as a formal noun in philosophy, statistics, science, and law. In philosophy, it names the general principle that events have causes; in law, establishing causation means showing that a defendant's conduct actually produced the harm at issue. Perhaps most famously, in statistics and everyday reasoning the phrase "correlation is not causation" warns against inferring that because two things occur together, one must be causing the other — a common and consequential logical error. Derived from the Latin causa ("cause") via Old French, the word entered English in the late Middle Ages and remains central to how we reason about responsibility, explanation, and evidence. Its adjective form is causal, and related forms include causative and causality.
nounThe action or process of causing something; the relationship between a cause and its effect. In philosophy and law, it refers to the principle by which one event or state of affairs brings about another.
- The action or process of producing an effect; the relationship between cause and effect.
- (Philosophy) The principle that every event has a cause; causality as a general feature of the natural world.
- (Law) The requirement that a defendant's act must be shown to have brought about the harm in question.
"The study found correlation between the two variables but could not establish causation."
"Researchers cautioned that the data showed association, not causation."
"In tort law, proving causation is essential before damages can be awarded."
Rarely pluralized; the word normally functions as an uncountable mass noun referring to the general concept or relation.
"The philosopher examined competing accounts of individual causations within the same event."
Correlation is not causation — the most quoted statistical caveat of all time exists precisely because our brains are wired to see causes everywhere.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of causation
Causation derives from the Latin noun causa, meaning "cause," "reason," or "grounds for a decision." English borrowed it via Old French in the medieval period, with the abstract noun formation following the pattern of words ending in -tion from past-participial stems. It shares its root with causal, causative, causality, and more distantly with excuse and accuse (from the same Latin verb family).
Related word forms
How causation is actually used
"Causation" is a formal term, most at home in academic writing, statistics, philosophy, and law. In everyday conversation, "because of" or "due to" usually replaces it. It carries no strong connotation itself, though it is often invoked to correct hasty inferences (as in "correlation is not causation").
Easily confused with causation
Correlation means two things vary together statistically, whereas causation means one actually produces the other — correlated events may have no causal link.