Potentiality: From Dispositions to Modality (Oxford Philosophical Monographs) - Hardcover

Vetter, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198714319 ISBN 13: 9780198714316

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2015

Synopsis

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.

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Barbara Vetter, Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin

Barbara Vetter has a BPhil and a DPhil in Philosophy from the University of Oxford and is now a junior professor for theoretical philosophy at Humboldt-University, Berlin.

Review:

"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

"The book is arguably the first monograph primarily devoted to articulating in detail a dispositionalist account of modality...Potentiality makes a very powerful, detailed, and comprehensive case for the author's view of modality and it is an extremely valuable contribution to the debate about the metaphysics of modality--one that significantly advances that debate. Potentiality is a must-read for anyone who is seriously interested in the metaphysics of modality." -- Mind

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0198714319
• ISBN 13: 9780198714316
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272