When: Friday, Jan. 27 from 2:30-4:00 **NEW TIME**
Where: Psychology Department A106
Talk Title: The Categories of Causation
Abstract: In this talk I attempt to classify the various categories of causation, understood broadly as a matter of one thing's acting on, or doing something to, another. My guide to this investigation is Beth Levin's (1993) comprehensive survey of English verb classes, which I show how we can use to isolate a formal dimension of lexical meaning that is revealing of general conceptual categories, including those of different kinds of causal process. Further, I argue that this approach is superior to one that treats the verb 'to cause' as our primary means of talking about causation. To the contrary, we speak about causation in an enormous and diverse range of ways, including many where this word would find no ordinary application. Reflection on the variety of ordinary causal talk sheds light on the different forms of causation that our words can be used to describe.
Friday, January 27, 2023 at 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Psychology Building A (PDA), A106
1107 W Call St., Tallahassee, FL
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