Re: Causation - how should we teach?

["RAUBER, JOEL" <JOEL_RAUBER@SDSTATE.EDU>]

John D. wrote in part:
> Yeah.  Teaching is full of dilemmas.
>
> But on the scale of dilemmas, the causation issue seems
> trivial.  I see no advantage to saying F causes ma.  And
> I see no cost to alternative formulations such as
>   -- F is associated with ma.
>   -- F can be calculated from ma and vice versa.
>   -- etc.


I wonder if it isn't reasonable to describe the force concept, in the words
of a lot of the scientific process descriptions, to describe the force
concept as an "organizing principle" to help with our description of all the
complicated features regarding the motion of objects.

This is in the same sense as "The theory of evolution" is an organizing
principle in the science of biology.  Force and Newton's 2nd law is an
organizing principle, not a cause and effect relationship.

Joel R