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Full Idea
A thing is simply a long event, throughout the course of which there is either qualitative similarity or continuous qualitative change, together with a characteristic spatio-temporal unity.
Gist of Idea
A thing is simply a long event, linked by qualities, and spatio-temporal unity
Source
C.D. Broad (Scientific Thought [1923], 10 'Duration')
Book Ref
Broad,C.D.: 'Scientific Thought' [Routledge 2010], p.393
A Reaction
At least he is trying to give some sort of principle that links the stages of the event together.
| 14963 | Surely the past phases of a thing are not parts of the thing? [Broad] |
| 7628 | Broad rejects the inferential component of the representative theory [Broad, by Maund] |
| 8160 | The present and past exist, but the future does not [Broad, by Dummett] |
| 14759 | A thing is simply a long event, linked by qualities, and spatio-temporal unity [Broad] |
| 14609 | We could say present and past exist, but not future, so that each event adds to the total history [Broad] |
| 22933 | We imagine the present as a spotlight, moving across events from past to future [Broad] |
| 11842 | If short-lived happenings like car crashes are 'events', why not long-lived events like Dover Cliffs? [Broad] |