论日常事件的组成及其同一性的界定:一个基于使真关系的功能主义刻画方案

What are Everyday Events Made of and How: A Truth-making Functionalistic Account

大多数日常对象各组成部分之和界定等价于各组成部分的界定之和,我们可以认为其具有"组成上的透明性"。事件不具备这种透明性,对此问题,戴维森和金的论述都无法给出特别理想的刻画方案。事件之所以不具备这种透明性,是因为我们在使用日常语言时往往混淆了字面组成陈述与模糊组成陈述。我们谈论功能实体的组成时,往往采用的是模糊的组成陈述,而事件正是一种重要的"离散式功能实体"。事件的本质功能在于:通过可获得的最精简材质使相应的命题为真。在这个功能主义的事件论述的基础上,我们可以给出事件同一性的界定标准,该标准在维持合乎直观的事件概念的同时,有助于解决戴维森和金的论述都难以处理的一些事件界定问题。

Most of everyday objects are"mereologically transparent"in a way in which most of everyday events are not.I will argue in the paper that mereological transparency is less an essential character of individuability than a symptom of the underlying conflation of literal mereology claims and fuzzy ones.Events constitute an important subset of what we call"discrete functional entities".Accordingly a functional account of events can be suggested,according to which the essential function of events is to make corresponding propositions true with most thrifty material available.Finally,on the basis of such functional account,an event identification criterion is given,which would be helpful in elucidating and resolving some notorious event identification cases,which the traditional approaches like Davison’s and Kim’s may have troubles to deal with.