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Dispositions are everywhere. We say that a wall is hard, that water quenches thirst and is transparent, that dogs can swim and oak trees can let their leaves fall, and that acid has the power to corrode metals. All these statements express attributions of dispositions, be they physical, physiological or psychological, yet there is much philosophical debate about how far, if at all, dispositional predicates can have complete meaning or figure in causal explanations. This collection of essays, by leading international researchers, examine the case for realism with respect to dispositions and causal powers in both metaphysics and science. Among the issues debated in this book is whether dispositions can be analyzed in terms of conditionals, whether all dispositions have a so-called categorical basis and, if they do, what is the relation between the disposition and its basis.
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DISPOSITIONS AND CAUSAL POWERS
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Dispositions and Causal Powers
Edited by MAX KISTLER University Paris X-Nanterre, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France BRUNO GNASSOUNOU University of Nantes, France
© Max Kistler and Bruno Gnassounou 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Max Kistler and Bruno Gnassounou have asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England
Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA
Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Dispositions and causal powers 1.Dispositions (Philosophy) 2.Causation 3.Science – Philosophy I.Kistler, Max II.Gnassounou, Bruno 111.1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dispostions and causal powers / edited by Max Kistler and Bruno Gnassounou. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN–13: 978–0–7546–5425–4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Disposition (Philosophy) 2. Causation. I. Kistler, Max. II. Gnassounou, Bruno. BD374.D57 2006 111–dc22 2006018032 ISBN–13: 978–0–7546–5425–4
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire.
Contents Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Bruno Gnassounou and Max Kistler Part 1
vii xi 1
The Metaphysics of Dispositions and Causal Powers
1 Dispositions and Counterfactuals. From Carnap to Goodman’s Children and Grandchildren François Schmitz
43
2 Filled In Space Stephen Mumford
67
3 Dispositions and Essences Claudine Tiercelin
81
4 The Causal Efficacy of Macroscopic Dispositional Properties Max Kistler
103
5 Opium’s Virtus Dormitiva Cyrille Michon
133
6 Conditional Possibility Bruno Gnassounou
151
7 On Ascribing Dispositions Ludger Jansen
161
Part 2
Dispositions and Causal Powers in Science
8 An Extended Semantic Field of Dispositions and the Grounding Role of Causal Powers Rom Harré 9 What Makes a Capacity a Disposition? Nancy Cartwright
181
195
vi
Dispositions and Causal Powers
10 Causation, Laws and Dispositions Andreas Hüttemann
207
11 Can Capacities Rescue us from Ceteris Paribus Laws? Markus Schrenk
221
12 Dispositions, Relational Properties and the Quantum World Mauro Dorato
249
13 Are Specific Heats Dispositions? Anouk Barberousse
271
Bibliogra