On Causing Something to Happen in a Certain Way without Causing It to Happen*

We tend to identify events by when, where, and how they occur, i.e., by the time at which they occur, the spatial location at which they occur, and the manner in which they occur. But, in most cases, we also tend to conceive of the specific time, spatial location, and manner in which they occur as only accidental to them. For instance, we think that an explosion that occurred at noon could have occurred one minute later, an inch closer to our home, and it could have been a darker shade of blue. Our meeting today could have occurred an hour later, in the room next door, and it could have involved a few more people than it did.' Given that many of the properties events have are accidental to them, it is possible to cause an event to have a property without causing the event itself. For instance, I can cause an explosion to be blue without causing the explosion, and I can cause a meeting to be boring without causing the meeting.2 Other times, the causing of an event to have an accidental property comes hand in hand with the causing of the event itself. Suppose, for instance, that Assassin shoots Victim, and Victim dies as a result. The particular way in which the death occurred involves a certain amount of blood spilling. Imagine that Victim's death could still have occurred if more or less blood had been spilled, that is, imagine that the particular amount of blood being spilled is only accidental to the death. Then Assassin caused the death to have a property, which is only accidental to it, but he also caused the death simpliciter.