Are Events Particulars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Are Events Particulars - Essay Example He also critiques Chilosm's contention that there are recurring events - he gives an example of dropping a saucer in mud one day and doing it again the next. So how does one classify such an event, is a particular event How can we make these discrete events as one, one might talk of same event continuing but then in case of a continuous event recurring after a break, what if the event occurred with separate participants, two persons got married and two others did the same. Will this count as a same event or event sum! Even if one were to allow unrepeatable events, how can one solve the paradox of same event happening more than once, perhaps resumption of the event after a pause might suffice. Only he says if there are particular unrepeatable events than same event can occur on more than one occasions (Donald, essays). Davidson believes that events are particulars, so that same event can be cross referenced from more than representation, further physical event even though these might be causally related; he classifies mental events as those rationalized by reasoning. This does not mean that correlations do not exist, it is only that such correspondences cannot be rendered in the precise mathematical form outlined by strict laws. Regarding equivalence of events and if events are indeed particulars he says that events should be similarly causal for them to be identical and also that the concerned events should occupy the same spatial location (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). The differentiation between mental and physical events is quite amorphous they are really two ways of looking at the same things viewed from two different perspectives. The question to ask is whether this event is constituent of or composed of event which is purely physical, a mental event might have hidden aspects, properties which are not immediately discernable, but by using exemplifications the associations might become clearer. (Helen Steward, ontology of the mind) Helen Steward discusses Jaegwon Kim and Jonathan Bennett's theories on events in his book "The Ontology of Mind". Events according to Jaegwon Kim, he says, are to be represented canonically such that their inherent metaphysical character is kept intact; events have a structure, its constituents are object(s) and time (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Any event can be represented by the expression [S, p, t] where S is substance, p is property and t time. Kim's events exemplify properties, but the property exemplified is the constitutive property while any number of non constitutive properties is exemplified (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Two events are identical only if the three variables match in the respective events and the concerned Events 4 event is a "dated particular" (Helen Steward) and event's identity is tied to a particular property. The issue is using event describing sentences using explicit times cannot be mapped on a particular event and