Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Foundations of Geometry' and 'Event Causation: counterfactual analysis'

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2 ideas

7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 4. Events / a. Nature of events
Maybe an event's time of occurrence is essential to it [Bennett]
     Full Idea: It has been argued that an event's time of occurrence is essential to it.
     From: Jonathan Bennett (Event Causation: counterfactual analysis [1987], p.221)
     A reaction: [He cites Lawrence Lombard] This sound initially implausible, particularly if a rival event happened, say, .1 of a second later than the actual event. It might depend on one's view about determinism. Interesting.
Maybe each event has only one possible causal history [Bennett]
     Full Idea: Perhaps it is impossible that an event should have had a causal history different from the one that it actually had.
     From: Jonathan Bennett (Event Causation: counterfactual analysis [1987], p.220)
     A reaction: [He cites van Inwagen for this] The idea is analagous to baptismal accounts of reference. Individuate an event by its history. It might depend (as Davidson implies) on how you describe the event.