Abstract
According to the Particularist Theory of Events, events are real things that have a spatiotemporal location. I argue that some events do not have a spatial location in the sense required by the theory. These events are ordinary, nonmental events like Smith’s investigating the murder and Carol’s putting her coat on the chair. I discuss the significance of these counterexamples for the theory.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Cleland (1996) says that sounds such as shrieks and bangs are events and that there is a possible world in which they do not have a spatial location. The world is P. F. Strawson’s No-Space world (in 1959). I do not know whether to count them as counterexamples in part because it is not clear to me what sounds in Strawson’s No-Space world are.
An anonymous referee noted that (12) could mean either of the following: I bought an antique that was at the flea market when I bought it. I bought an antique and I was at the flea market when I bought it. I agree. But I think that it can also mean that the action of buying the antique, the transaction, took place at the flea market.
An anonymous referee called my attention to this objection.
References
Bennett, J. (1996). What events are. In R. Casati & A. C. Varzi (Eds.), Events (pp. 137–151). Aldershot: Dartmouth.
Brand, M. (1976). Particulars, events, and actions. In M. Brand & D. Walton (Eds.), Action theory (pp. 133–157). Dordrecht: Reidel.
Brand, M. (1977). Identity conditions for events. American Philosophical Quarterly, 14, 329–337.
Brand, M. (1981). A particularist theory of events. In R. Haller (Ed.), Science and ethics (pp. 187–202). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Cleland, C. (1996). On the individuation of events. Reprinted in R. Casati & A. C. Varzi (Eds.), Events (pp. 373–398). Aldershot: Dartmouth.
Davidson, D. (1980). Essays on actions and events. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dowty, D. (1979). Word meaning and Montague grammar. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Ernst, T. (1984). Toward an integrated theory of adverb position in English. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Linguistics Club.
Hacker, P. M. S. (1982). Events and objects in space and time. Mind, 91, 1–19.
Jackson, F. (1982). On property identity. Philosophia, 11, 289–305.
Katz, G. (2003). Eventive arguments, adverb selection, and the stative adverb gap. In E. Lang, C. Maienborn, & C. Fabricius-Hansen (Eds.), Modifying adjuncts (pp. 455–474). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kim, J. (1966). On the psycho-physical identity theory. American Philosophical Quarterly, 3, 227–235.
Kim, J. (1969). Events and their descriptions: Some considerations. In N. Rescher & D. Davidson (Eds.), Essays in honor of Carl G. Hempel (pp. 198–215). Dordrecht: Reidel.
Kim, J. (1973). Causation, nomic subsumption, and the concept of event. The Journal of Philosophy, 70, 217–236.
Kim, J. (1976). Events as property exemplifications. In M. Brand & D. Walton (Eds.), Action theory (pp. 159–177). Dordrecht: Reidel.
McCann, H. (1979). Nominals, facts, and two conceptions of events. Philosophical Studies, 35, 129–149.
Ryle, G. (1949). The concept of mind. New York: Barnes & Noble.
Strawson, P. F. (1959). Individuals: An essay in descriptive metaphysics. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Vendler, Z. (1967). Linguistics in philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Price, M.S. Particularism and the Spatial Location of Events. Philosophia 36, 129–140 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-007-9075-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-007-9075-7