Martin Taylor's Posting on Cause

[Martin Taylor 971206 22.40]

I liked your posting about cause very much, Martin. I am on record, by the
way, as asserting that the TQM folks' search for "root cause" is a futile
one (said assertion having earned me scathing comments in return but, as I
say in rebuttal, "Asking 'Why?' five times in succession is often a useful
thing to do but let's not pretend that the answer to the fifth posing of it
yields a "root" cause).

Anyhow, I would modify your last sentence.

You wrote:

All in all, "cause," like "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder.

I have found it useful, provocative, and productive, to say:

"Cause is in the eye of the attributor."

Regards,

Fred Nickols
nickols@worldnet.att.net