CONDITION (con and dare), that which is attendant on the cause, or co-operates with it, for the accomplishment of the result; or, that which limits the cause in its operation. A pre-requisite in order that something may be, or in order that a cause may operate.
| In the language of Inductive Logic, the cause is defined as «the sum-total of the conditions positive and negative taken together; the whole of the contingencies of every description, which, being realised, the consequent invariably follows. But it is common to single out one only of the antecedents, distinguished by active power or efficiency, under the denomination of Cause, calling the others merely Conditions» (Mill, Logic, bk. III. ch. V. sec. 3). |
Condition and Conditioned are correlative. The condition is the ground presupposed; the conditioned, conditionate, or conditional is that which is determined by it.
«The conditioned» is employed to describe the relative and limited, in contrast with the «unconditioned,» which is applied to the absolute and infinite (Hamilton, Discussions; Mansel, Limits of Religious Thought).
