Properties, Powers and Structures

Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism

By: Alexander Bird (Editor), Brian Ellis (Editor), Howard Sankey (Editor)

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Hardcover | 21 December 2011 | Edition Number 1

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282 Pages

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23.5 x 15.88 x 1.91

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While the phrase "metaphysics of science" has been used from time to time, it has only recently begun to denote a specific research area where metaphysics meets philosophy of science-and the sciences themselves. The essays in this volume demonstrate that metaphysics of science is an innovative field of research in its own right. The principle areas covered are:

The modal metaphysics of properties: What is the essential nature of natural properties? Are all properties essentially categorical? Are they all essentially dispositions, or are some categorical and others dispositional?

Realism in mathematics and its relation to science: What does a naturalistic commitment of scientific realism tell us about our commitments to mathematical entities? Can this question be framed in something other than a Quinean philosophy?

Dispositions and their relation to causation: Can we generate an account of causation that takes dispositionality as fundamental? And if we take dispositions as fundamental (and hence not having a categorical causal basis), what is the ontological ground of dispositions?

Pandispositionalism: Could all properties be dispositional in nature?

Natural kinds: Are there natural kinds, and if so what account of their nature should we give? For example, do they have essences? Here we consider how these issues may be illuminated by considering examples from reals science, in particular biochemistry and neurobiology.

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"I recommend this collection very highly to anyone who wants to become more familiar with contemporary realist metaphysics, its big issues, and the ways in which science can bear on metaphysics." -- Philosophy in Review

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Non-Fiction Philosophy Metaphysics & Ontology History of Western Philosophy Mathematics Philosophy of Mathematics Science Science in General Philosophy of Science

Notes on Contributors	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Symposium on Properties	p. 9
The Categorical Dimensions of the Causal Powers	p. 11
Defending Categoricalism	p. 27
Monistic Dispositions Essentialism	p. 35
Levels of Inquiry	p. 43
Levels of Reality and Scales of Application	p. 45
Realism in Mathematics	p. 61
Anti-Nominalistic Scientific Realism: A Defence	p. 63
Indispensability Without Platonism	p. 81
Dispositions and Causal Powers	p. 99
Causal Dispositionalism	p. 101
Powerful Properties and the Causal Basis of Dispositions	p. 119
Four Theories of Pure Dispositions	p. 139
Pan-Dispositionalism	p. 163
The Metaphysics of Pan-Dispositionalism	p. 165
The Categorical-Dispositional Distinction	p. 181
Dispositional Essentialism and the Laws of Nature	p. 201
Natural Kinds	p. 217
The Metaphysics of Determinate Kinds	p. 219
Scientific Kinds Without Essences	p. 233
References	p. 257
Index	p. 267
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Properties, Powers and Structures

Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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