Dispositions: A Debate / Edition 1

by D.M. Armstrong, Tim Crane, C.B. Martin, U.T. Place

Overview

Dispositions are essential to our understanding of the world. Dispositions: A Debate is an extended dialogue between three distinguished philosophers - D.M. Armstrong, C.B. Martin and U.T. Place - on the many problems associated with dispositions, which reveals their own distinctive accounts of the nature of dispositions. These are then linked to other issues such as the nature of mind, matter, universals, existence, laws of nature and causation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415144322
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/06/1996
Series:	International Library of Philosophy
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

D M Armstrong (University of Sydney, Emeritus), Professor of Philosophy C B Martin (Formerly University of Calgary), The Late U T Place (University of Leeds (deceased), Professor of Philosophy Tim Crane (University of Cambridge)

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I The Armstrong-Place Debate1 DISPOSITIONS AS CATEGORICAL STATES 2 DISPOSITIONS AS INTENTIONAL STATES 3 PLACE’S AND ARMSTRONG’S VIEWS COMPARED AND CONTRASTED 4 A CONCEPTUALIST ONTOLOGY Part II The Martin-Armstrong-Place Debate 5 PROPERTIES AND DISPOSITIONS 6 REPLY TO MARTIN 7 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES: CATEGORICAL, DISPOSITIONAL OR BOTH? 8 REPLIES TO ARMSTRONG AND PLACE 9 SECOND REPLY TO MARTIN 10 CONCEPTUALISM AND THE ONTOLOGICAL INDEPENDENCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT 11 FINAL REPLIES TO PLACE AND ARMSTRONG

Editorial Reviews

‘This book furnishes fertile soil within which many different theories could take root and extract nourishment'

‘We stongly recommend this book on Dispostions.Each of the three participants provides very persuassive arguments for different parts of the full story which seek concerning dispostions. The many arguments in this book can help to draw a reader, as they have drawn us, very much closer towards a satisfying understanding of some of the deepest and most central problems in metaphysics'

'This is a book on one of the most central issues in current metaphysics by three figures who are and have been right in the eye of the storm ... The many arguments in this book can help to draw a reader, as they have drawn us, very much closer to a satisfying understanding of some of the deepest and most central problems in metaphysics.' - Canadian Journal of Philosophy

'The waters of metaphysics rise ... here in Disposition, are not one but three grand old men of the sea to pilot us through them.' - Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

In this context, a disposition is a property (i.e. solubility, fragility, etc.) which, under certain conditions, changes the thing which has it. (For example, something with solubility will dissolve if put in water.) Of concern to philosophers is the fact that though dispositions are real properties, they are described in terms of things that could, but might not take place. Here, three philosophers (from Australia, Canada, and Wales) offer their views, including ideas that extend to issues such as the nature of mind, matter, universals, existence, laws of nature, and causation. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews