alt.politics.economics

On Sep 12, 1:57 am, Cardinal Chunder
wrote:

> Conspiracy kooks, creationists and other nutballs are living
> demonstrations of why critical thinking needs to be taught in schools.

Everyone tells me correlation isn't proof of causation. Then they go
on to talk about empirical methods. My problem is I can't figure out
what empirical methods show other than correlation. As best as I can
tell causation is a belief held about certain correlations but not
others.

There is a philosophy of moral agency that says one is not morally
responsible unless one could have chosen to do otherwise than what
one did. Further one is not morally responsible unless one knows
the effects of one's actions and intends them. There is some grey
areas such as is related to actions a reasonable person would take
to know the effects of one's actions. If, as a matter of course,
I don't bother to look both ways before entering an intersection
and this failure leads to the death of another am I morally
responsible
for that death?

OK, some people hold some beliefs about 9/11. What makes them
"conspiracy kooks"? We know several things about the day and the
days leading up to 9/11 that if they were causally related would
imply moral culpability but as I said, correlation isn't causation.

At best there is a confluence of many things that would be a
perfect storm of coincidence that turned out advantageous for
those involved and their desires.