As a philosopher, I don't appreciate the arguments in favour of causality. I believe they are based on experience like David Hume argued and not that one thing affect the other in a planned manner.
Human greetings on the other hand follows this causal mentality. Once a question is asked in form of greetings, people somehow expect a positive response.
One major greeting is the 'how are you', which is often followed by 'i'm fine'.
It is suggestive and follows a pattern which everyone seems to believe is the right way to go.
The response is not a true expression of how one feels. It is in fact, the opposite.
We wire the world in a way that true expressions are hidden under fake smiles. While we know the expression is not a true reflection of reality, we still flow with it anyway.
This is even a complicated issue when you consider the fact that, we the parent are the ones responsible for this misrepresentation of reality.
From childhood, we train our child to say 'fine' whenever someone ask 'how are you'? The child may be in fact angry, troubled or a bit discomfort at that very moment but we've wired his/her brain to always respond with 'i'm fine, thank you.
As they grow, they see being fine as the norm. They see it as what the world wants to hear and consciously, they make it part of their existence.
Today, we wonder why many people hide their true feelings. Even children hide their trouble and sadness from their parents.
They fake smile and answer 'i'm fine' when asked 'how are you'even by their own parent.
Before you know it, they are faced with depression and different thoughts enter their brain which in turn bring bad result.
Perhaps we need to change that logic and let people answer based on their feelings and not with a predetermined response.
A child should be free to answer ' I'm fine', I'm not fine', ' I'm not okay', ' I'm sad', 'i'm angry' etc. It is a question and should be answered based on feelings and not just cause and effect kind of reality.
If children are taught to be true to their feelings, we might have generation of kids full of confidence and who see no reason in hiding their feelings because someone is ready to listen.
This i believe should be way forward instead of the predetermined way of 'fine' when the child is not fine.
I hope you are able to pick one or two points from the above.
Thanks for your time.