<s>
Causal	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
field	O
of	O
experimental	O
design	O
and	O
statistics	O
pertaining	O
to	O
establishing	O
cause	O
and	O
effect	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
is	O
primarily	O
concerned	O
with	O
causal	O
questions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
nature	O
of	O
causality	B-Application
is	O
systematically	O
investigated	O
in	O
several	O
academic	O
disciplines	O
,	O
including	O
philosophy	O
and	O
physics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
academia	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
a	O
significant	O
number	O
of	O
theories	O
on	O
causality	B-Application
;	O
The	O
Oxford	O
Handbook	O
of	O
Causation	O
encompasses	O
770	O
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
David	O
Hume	O
argued	O
that	O
beliefs	O
about	O
causality	B-Application
are	O
based	O
on	O
experience	O
,	O
and	O
experience	O
similarly	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
assumption	O
that	O
the	O
future	O
models	O
the	O
past	O
,	O
which	O
in	O
turn	O
can	O
only	O
be	O
based	O
on	O
experience	O
–	O
leading	O
to	O
circular	O
logic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
conclusion	O
,	O
he	O
asserted	O
that	O
causality	B-Application
is	O
not	O
based	O
on	O
actual	O
reasoning	O
:	O
only	O
correlation	O
can	O
actually	O
be	O
perceived	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Outside	O
the	O
field	O
of	O
philosophy	O
,	O
theories	O
of	O
causation	O
can	O
be	O
identified	O
in	O
classical	O
mechanics	O
,	O
statistical	O
mechanics	O
,	O
quantum	O
mechanics	O
,	O
spacetime	B-Protocol
theories	O
,	O
biology	O
,	O
social	O
sciences	O
,	O
and	O
law	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Statistical	O
tests	O
exist	O
to	O
quantify	O
the	O
likelihood	O
of	O
erroneously	O
concluding	O
that	O
an	O
observed	O
difference	O
exists	O
when	O
in	O
fact	O
it	O
does	O
not	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
see	O
P-value	B-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Clive	O
Granger	O
created	O
the	O
first	O
operational	O
definition	O
of	O
causality	B-Application
in	O
1969	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Granger	O
made	O
the	O
definition	O
of	O
probabilistic	O
causality	B-Application
proposed	O
by	O
Norbert	O
Wiener	O
operational	O
as	O
a	O
comparison	O
of	O
variances	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Peter	O
Spirtes	O
,	O
Clark	O
Glymour	O
,	O
and	O
Richard	O
Scheines	O
introduced	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
explicitly	O
not	O
providing	O
a	O
definition	O
of	O
causality	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Exploratory	O
causal	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
"	O
data	O
causality	B-Application
"	O
or	O
"	O
causal	O
discovery	O
"	O
is	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
statistical	O
algorithms	O
to	O
infer	O
associations	O
in	O
observed	O
data	O
sets	O
that	O
are	O
potentially	O
causal	O
under	O
strict	O
assumptions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
exploratory	O
research	O
usually	O
preceding	O
more	O
formal	O
causal	O
research	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
way	O
exploratory	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
often	O
precedes	O
statistical	O
hypothesis	O
testing	O
in	O
data	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
