Nature's Metaphysics: Laws and Properties

by Alexander Bird

Overview

Nature's Metaphysics argues that a satisfactory philosophy of science requires a metaphysics that is based on the understanding that causal properties are essentially dispositional properties. Alexander Bird develops and defends a dispositional essentialist account of the laws of nature, and also examines dispositional accounts of explanation, causation, ceteris paribus laws, substances and kinds. Professional philosophers and advanced students working in metaphysics and the philosophy of science will find this book both provocative and stimulating.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199227013
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/20/2007
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Alexander Bird is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction - laws and properties2. Dispositions3. Dispositional essentialism and the laws of nature4. Categoricalism5. Dispositional essentialism, modality, and intentionality6. The regress objection7. Structural properties8. The illusion of nomic contingency9. Are there any laws, and if so what are they? 10. Concluding remarksReferences

Editorial Reviews

"Alexander Bird has done an excellent job in injecting argumentative rigor into a debate that has come to seem to some as having reached a stalemate.... The sheer weight and quality of argument in this book show that this is a debate that has a long way to run yet."—Helen Beebee, Times Literary Supplement

"This is a rewarding book. In terms of area, it has one foot firmly planted in metaphysics and the other just as firmly set in the philosophy of science. Nature's Metaphysics is distinctive for its thorough and detailed defense of fundatmental, natural properties as essentially dispositional and for its description of how these dispositional properties are thus suited to sustain the laws of nature as (metaphysically) necessary truths."—John W. Carroll, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

From the Publisher