Q&A: Overdetermination
Overdetermination
Question
With God's help,
Hello Rabbi!
I wanted to ask whether there is a logical problem of overdetermination; that is, when event x causes event y, and when event e occurs it also causes event y—if event x and event e occur together simultaneously, can one say that each of them caused y independently?
Answer
This is really just semantics. You can say yes or no. It depends on the meaning you give to the term “cause.” In Jewish law they also discuss this, in the topic of coercion and consent (someone who is coerced to do something that he wanted to do anyway). See the Encyclopedia Talmudit, entry “Coercion”; this is an old discussion. It seems to me that I dealt with this in one of my columns (and I also brought the Talmudic passage about an offering intended both for the sake of Passover and for the sake of a peace-offering in the intentions for the sacrifice).