The word ‘cause’ conflates a body with its action
Evidence
On the one hand, a motion, an action, an operation; on the other hand, an agent, an operator, an author; to the designation of both these, in themselves perfectly distinct objects, the words are wont to be indiscriminately applied. … The cause, (says a position of which frequent use was made in the same theatres of disputation,) the cause is always proportioned to its effect. But, between the moon itself and the tide, i.e. the flux and reflux of the sea, there cannot be any proportion; they are disparate entities, the one the moon, a real entity, the other, the flux and reflux, i.e. the motions of the sea are but fictitious entities. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 563
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the modern distinction between physical objects and their properties/behavior in philosophy of science.
- DEFINE: Bentham separates real entities (the moon) from fictitious entities (the tide’s motion) to expose the ambiguity of ‘cause’.