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Full Idea
Not all events involve change. We cannot afford to count the unchanges as nonevents, for the unchanges may be needed to complete causal histories.
Gist of Idea
Some events involve no change; they must, because causal histories involve unchanges
Source
David Lewis (Events [1986], VI)
Book Ref
Lewis,David: 'Philosophical Papers Vol.2' [OUP 1986], p.261
A Reaction
You end up calling non-changes 'events' if you commit to a simplistic theory that all causal histories consist of events. Why not allow conditions as well as events? Lewis concedes that he may be abusing language.
| 15561 | The events that suit semantics may not be the events that suit causation [Lewis] |
| 15562 | Causation is a general relation derived from instances of causal dependence [Lewis] |
| 15564 | An event is a property of a unique space-time region [Lewis] |
| 15563 | Properties are very abundant (unlike universals), and are used for semantics and higher-order variables [Lewis] |
| 15565 | Events have inbuilt essences, as necessary conditions for their occurrence [Lewis] |
| 15566 | Events are classes, and so there is a mereology of their parts [Lewis] |
| 15567 | Some events involve no change; they must, because causal histories involve unchanges [Lewis] |