Distinguishing between causality, influence, correlation, and prediction

In response to Wen et al.’s (2024b) proposal of the new term called influence relationship, Ge (2025) raised the following doubts: (1) the new term lacks a clear definition; (2) influence relationship could not be distinguished from causal relationship; (3) one should not create a new objective (or relationship) simply because causality is not achieved; (4) the so-called influence relationship should be termed prediction instead. This article attempts to resolve his doubts as follows: (1) influence relationship has been defined rigorously, employing the “genus and differentia” method; (2) a causal relationship is necessarily an influence relationship, but an influence relationship is not necessarily a causal relationship; (3) establishing an influence relationship can be a goal for non-experimental research, which is superior to merely establishing a correlational relationship; (4) prediction is an application of variable relationships but is not the relationship itself and is not equivalent to the influence relationship.