Phenomenal Causation at a Distance

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the finding by Michotte, that a moving object A can apparently produce movement in a projectile B without making contact with it. The experiments confirm the existence of a causal impression of “pushing at a distance,” but they demonstrate that the greater the distance the smaller the chance that this impression will occur. When it does, in fact, occur, it has the same characteristics, and is associated with the same experimental conditions, as the impression of “pushing with contact.” Temporal continuity must obtain between the stopping of the moving object and the starting of the projectile; this refutes any theory positing that there is a “passage” of movement from one object to the other. The effects of differences in speed of movement, whether absolute or relative, are similar in both instances. In general, however, it appears that distance slightly accentuates the segregation of the movements and that the temporal and kinematic conditions of integration require to be more favourable in the case of distance, if an impression of pushing is to be given which is as satisfying as that found in the case of direct contact. The size of the Radius of Action, that is, the extent of the passive phase of the projectile, is of the same order in the two cases. The results bring out the fundamentally temporal-kinematic nature of the perceptual pattern of pushing. They appear difficult to reconcile with an interpretation based on past experience, but tally with the theory of “Ampliation of Movement” put forward by Michotte. According to this theory the essential point lies in the phenomenal transitory belonging to A (the moving object) of the movement performed by B (the projectile).