Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Professor of Philosophy of Science John Worrall on the difference between correlation and causation, controlled experiments and the placebo effect.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/causal-hypotheses-in-medicine-10404
'It wouldn't be a very good test of the theory that giving people regular doses of vitamin C causes relief from colds if you gave a whole bunch of people who was suffering from colds vitamin C for a week, and then they all recovered. You know from natural history colds do generally clear up within a week in any event. So you need the contrast in order to establish causation.'
John Worrall, Professor of Philosophy of Science, the London School of Economics and Political Science
Governance of Science: serious-science.org/governance-of-science-8830
Popper and Kuhn on Theory Change: serious-science.org/popper-and-kuhn-on-theory-change-10268
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Professor of Philosophy of Science John Worrall on the difference between correlation and causation, controlled experiments and the placebo effect.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/causal-hypotheses-in-medicine-10404
'It wouldn't be a very good test of the theory that giving people regular doses of vitamin C causes relief from colds if you gave a whole bunch of people who was suffering from colds vitamin C for a week, and then they all recovered. You know from natural history colds do generally clear up within a week in any event. So you need the contrast in order to establish causation.'
John Worrall, Professor of Philosophy of Science, the London School of Economics and Political Science
Governance of Science: serious-science.org/governance-of-science-8830
Popper and Kuhn on Theory Change: serious-science.org/popper-and-kuhn-on-theory-change-10268
Be the first to find out about our new videos and articles. Learn interesting facts about various topics and people. Discover the answers to the big questions. Be in the know.
serious-science.org
Follow us:
We are on Patreon: patreon.com/SeriousScience
Facebook — facebook.com/serious.science.org
Twitter — twitter.com/scienceserious
YouTube — youtube.com/user/SeriousScience
Instagram — instagram.com/serious.science
Tumblr — serious-science.tumblr.com
VK — vk.com/seriousscience
