0415144329.Routledge.Dispositions.A.Debate.Jul.1996.pdf

DISPOSITIONS

Whenever we try to explain why things happen as they do, we find

ourselves appealing to the powers or dispositions objects have.

Dispositions are central to our understanding of the world: we protect

things that are fragile and valuable; we avoid things that are poisonous;

and we admire and value people for their character traits.

But dispositions have many puzzling aspects which concern philosophers.

Dispositions are real properties of objects—the fragility of a window is a

real property of the window—but at the same time, dispositions are

described in terms of things that would and might happen in future

manifestations of the dispositions. To say a window is fragile is to say

that it would break if it were struck, not that it has broken or that it is

breaking. A window can be fragile without ever breaking. In what way,

then, can the disposition be a real property of the object? How can an

object genuinely have a disposition if it never manifests it?

Three eminent philosophers, D.M.Armstrong, C.B.Martin and U.T. Place,

each reveal their own distinctive account of the nature of dispositions.

These ideas extend to other issues such as the nature of mind, matter,

universals, existence, laws of nature and causation.

The authors: D.M.Armstrong is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at

Sydney University. C.B.Martin is Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Calgary. U.T.Place is Honorary Lecturer in the Department

of Philosophy at the University of Leeds and in the Department of

Psychology at the University of Wales, Bangor.

The editor: Tim Crane is Lecturer in Philosophy at University College

London.

INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY

OF PHILOSOPHY

Edited by Tim Crane and Jonathan Wolff

University College London

The history of the International Library of Philosophy can be traced back

to the 1920s, when C.K.Ogden launched the series with G.E. Moore’s

Philosophical Papers and soon after published Ludwig Wittgenstein’s

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Since its auspicious start, it has published

the finest work in philosophy under the successive editorships of A.J.Ayer,

Bernard Williams and Ted Honderich. Now jointly edited by Tim Crane

and Jonathan Wolff, the I.L.P will continue to publish works at the forefront

of philosophical research.

Other titles in the I.L.P. include:

PSYCHOLOGY FROM AN EMPIRICAL STANDPOINT,

SECOND EDITION

With an introduction by Peter Simons

Franz Brentano

CONTENT AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Daniel C.Dennett

G.E.MOORE: SELECTED WRITINGS

Edited by Thomas Baldwin

A MATERIALIST THEORY OF THE MIND

D.M.Armstrong

THE FACTS OF CAUSATION

D.H.Mello r

DISPOSITIONS

A debate

D.M.Armstrong, C.B.Martin

and U.T.Place.Edited and with

an Introduction by Tim Crane

London and New York

First published 1996

by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

Routledge is an International Thomson Publishing company

Tim Crane for editorial matter and introduction

reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or

other means, now known or hereafter invented, including

photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval

system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

Armstrong, D.M. (David Malet), 1926–

Dispositions: a debate/D.M.Armstrong, C.B.Martin, and U.T.Place:

edited and with an introduction by Tim Crane,

p. cm. —(International library of philosophy)

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Disposition (Philosophy) I. Martin, C.B. (Charles Burton) II. Place,

U.T. (Ullin Thomas), 1924–. III. Crane, Tim. IV. Title. V. Series.

BD374.A75 1996

111'.1–dc20 95–9477

CIP

ISBN 0–415–14432–9 (Print Edition)

ISBN 0–203–00487–6 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0–203–20403–4 (Glassbook Format)

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