Is there a problem with the causal criterion of event identity?
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
American Philosophical Quarterly
Publication Date
1-1-2014
Volume
51
Issue
2
First Page
109
Last Page
120
Abstract
The issue of event identity may be interesting in itself, but it also bears on more specific, and perhaps more central, issues in philosophy such as the issue of whether mental events are identical to physical events. The question of how the identity of events is to be decided is therefore an important one. In this paper, we will focus on one possible answer to this question, namely the causal criterion of event identity put forward by Donald Davidson (1969). According to this criterion, events are the same if and only if they have the same causes and effects. In other words, (Causal criterion) Event x = event y if and only if, for all z, x causes z if and only if y causes z, and z causes x if and only if z causes y.
Print ISSN
00030481
E-ISSN
21521123
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
De Clercq, R., Lam, W.-Y., & Zhang, J. (2014). Is there a problem with the causal criterion of event identity? American Philosophical Quarterly, 51(2), 109-120.