Higginbotham, James, Pianesi, Fabio & Varzi, Achille C. (eds.) - Speaking of Events

We speak of actions and other events with the same easiness with which we speak of people and other objects. We say of John that he is bright and of Bill's lecture that it is boring. We say of John's father that he is taller than Bill's and of John's life that it is better than Bill's. We say of Clark Kent that he is Superman and of Clark Kent's death that it is the death of Superman. The pervasiveness of this talk does not by itself imply that there are such things as events—that events are to be included in an inventory of the world over and above people and material objects. But one can hardly question that some theory of events is needed if one is to make sense of such talk at all. Moreover, we often speak in such a way as to suggest—implicitly—that we are talking about events.