SELF CONTAINED CAUSAL NEXUS: Definition

I. Self Contained Causal Nexus: The bordering or link between a cause and its effect.

II. Larry Shiner, in 1967 defined “self-contained causal nexus as: a process which had been occurring in Western civilization; as a result of which one after another sphere of life had become subject to the belief that explanations for events could be found within this-worldly experience and the application of human reason.

III. Like Weber’s switchman, some ideas are capable of establishing and defining their own nexus; ideas that define themselves, that have their own meaning and importance.

IV. Faith is an example of an idea which originates within itself and is outside the realm of rational and verifiable and quantifiable experience.

V. The brain is a biological example of the sum being greater than its parts, and thus it qualifies as an example of the self contained causal nexus.

VI. Explanations referring to forces outside of this world are constantly being laid aside. Mystery is seen not as something to be entered into but something to be conquered by human reason, ingenuity, and the products of technology.