Potentiality
«Vetter's book stands out as an ambitious, original, and systematic attempt to develop a new account of metaphysical modality in terms of dispositional properties she calls 'potentialities.'»
Jennifer McKitrick, University of Nebraska, Erkenn
Individual objects have potentials: paper has the potential to burn, an acorn has the potential to turn into a tree, some people have the potential to run a mile in less than four minutes. Barbara Vetter provides a systematic investigation into the metaphysics of such potentials, and an account of metaphysical modality based on them. Les mer
In contemporary philosophy, potentials have been recognized mostly in the form of so-called dispositions: solubility, fragility, and so on. Vetter takes dispositions as her starting point, but argues for and develops a more comprehensive conception of potentiality. She shows how, with this more comprehensive conception, an account of metaphysical modality can be given that meets three crucial requirements: (1) Extensional correctness: providing the right truth-values for statements of
possibility and necessity; (2) formal adequacy: providing the right logic for metaphysical modality; and (3) semantic utility: providing a semantics that links ordinary modal language to the metaphysics of modality.
The resulting view of modality is a version of dispositionalism about modality: it takes modality to be a matter of the dispositions of individual objects (and, crucially, not of possible worlds). This approach has a long philosophical tradition going back to Aristotle, but has been largely neglected in contemporary philosophy. In recent years, it has become a live option again due to the rise of anti-Humean, powers-based metaphysics. The aim of Potentiality and Possibility is to
develop the dispositionalist view in a way that takes account of contemporary developments in metaphysics, logic, and semantics.
Detaljer
- Forlag
- Oxford University Press
- Innbinding
- Paperback
- Språk
- Engelsk
- ISBN
- 9780198825869
- Utgivelsesår
- 2018
- Format
- 23 x 16 cm
Anmeldelser
«Vetter's book stands out as an ambitious, original, and systematic attempt to develop a new account of metaphysical modality in terms of dispositional properties she calls 'potentialities.'»
Jennifer McKitrick, University of Nebraska, Erkenn
«Potentiality is an essential reference for scholars of disposition, potentiality, and possibility. It makes a significant contribution to the continued growth of anti-Humean metaphysics.»
James M. Bucknell, Australasian Journal of Philosophy
«I believe that Potentiality is a very important book that should be read by anyone who is interested in the metaphysics of modality in general and in dispositionalist approaches to modality in particular.»
Gabriele Contessa, Mind