Widowmakers, Mitochondrial Eve, and Retrospective Coronations

Dennett examines properties defined by distant or later relations, including widowhood and a maternal-line common ancestor. Retrospective designation can be correct without identifying an intrinsic feature visible beforehand.

Some properties depend on relations that extend beyond a thing's local condition or become identifiable only after later events. Dennett's examples include widowhood and the designation of a maternal-line common ancestor. Mitochondrial Eve names a genealogical relationship among living people, not the only woman alive in her time or a person carrying an intrinsic badge of future ancestry.

Retrospective classification can be objectively correct without having been prospectively knowable. The error is to infer that a later title was a locally visible essence or that its eventual importance made an earlier decision obvious. Separate what happened, what relation now holds, and what evidence was available at the time. Hindsight can reveal real structure while still distorting judgments about prediction or responsibility.

When to use it

When historical titles, causal narratives, or judgments about past decisions depend on consequences that emerged later.

How it can help

Separate the relation that makes a later description true from the evidence available to people at the time. Preserve useful hindsight without inventing foresight.