Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T19:48:20.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Explanatory Import of Dispositions: A Defense of Scientific Realism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Jon D. Ringen
Jon D. Ringen*
Affiliation:
Indiana University at South Bend
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is widely assumed that disposition predicates do not designate events, processes, or states of affairs which could be causal factors in the production of natural phenomena, yet the fact that an object has a given dispositional property is frequently taken to help explain the behavior exhibited by the object to which the disposition can be ascribed. Considerable philosophical effort has been devoted to the task of explaining how this could be so. The results run the gamut from Hume's (1739, p. 224) view that faculties and occult qualities have absolutely no explanatory import to Armstrong's (1968, p. 88) recent conclusion that dispositions are causes. Most proposals, however, lie between these extremes. Most contemporary philosophers take it for granted that disposition ascriptions have some explanatory import even though disposition predicates do not designate causes.

Type
Part III. Scientific Realism and Observation
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1982 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1982 , 1982 , pp. 122 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Support from Indiana University Faculty Fellowships is gratefully acknowledged as are helpful comments from my colleagues in the Philosophy Department at Indiana University at South Bend.

References

Alston, W. (1971). “Dispositions and Occurrences.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 1: 125–154. (As reprinted in Tuomela (1978). Pages 359-388.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, D. (1968). A Materialist Theory of the Mind. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Armstrong, D. (1969). “Dispositions are Causes.” Analysis 30: 23–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, D. (1973). “Beliefs as States.“ In Belief Truth, and Knowledge. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pages 7-21. (As reprinted in Tuomela (1978). Pages 411-426.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnap, R. (1936). “Testability and Meaning.” Philosophy of Science 3: 419–471, 4: 1-40. (Sections 7-10, pp. 439-453, are reprinted in Tuomela (1978). Pages 3-16.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisk, M. (1970). “Capacities and Natures.” In PSA 1970. (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Volume VIII.) Edited by Buck, Roger C. and Cohen, Robert S.. Dordrecht: Heidel. Pages 49–62.Google Scholar
Fisk, M. (1973a). “Are There Necessary Connections in Nature.” Philosophy of Science 37: 385–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisk, M. (1973b). “Capacities and Natures.” In Nature and Necessity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Pages 229–256. (As abridged and revised by the author for Tuomela (1978). Pages 189-210.)Google Scholar
Harré, R. (1970a). “Powers.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 21: 81–101. (As reprinted in Tuomela (1978). Pages 211-233.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harré, R. (1970b). The Principles of Scientific Thinking. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hempel, C. (1965). “Dispositional Explanation.” In Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: The Free Press. Pages 457–463. (As revised by the author for Tuomela (1978). Pages 137-146.)Google Scholar
Hume, D. (1739). A Treatise of Human Nature. London: John Noone. (As reprinted (ed.) L.A. Selby-Bigge. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1888.)Google Scholar
Hume, D. (1748). Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding. London: Printed for A. Millar. (As reprinted as An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, (eds.) Thomas J. McCormick and Mary Calkins. La Salle: The Open Court Publishing Co., 1907.)Google Scholar
James, W. (1875). “Chauncy Wright.” Nation 31: 194.Google Scholar
Levi, I. and Morgenbesser, S. (1961). “Belief and Disposition.” American Philosophical Quarterly 1: 221—232. (As reprinted in Tuomela (1978). Pages 389-410.)Google Scholar
Locke, J. (1690). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. London: Thomas Basett. (As reprinted (ed.) Alexander Campbell Fraser. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1959.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, J. (1977). “Dispositions, Grounds, and Causes.” Synthese 34: 361–369. (As reprinted in Tuomela (1978). Pages 99-108.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moliere, J. (1673). Le Malade Imaginaire. (As reprinted in Oeuvres Completes. Volume II. (ed.) Rat, Maurice. Paris: Librairie de la Gallimard, 1956. Pages 823–910.)Google Scholar
Pap, A. (1958). “Disposition Concepts and Extensional Logic.” In Concepts, Theories, and the Mind-Body Problem. (Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume II.) Edited by Feigl, H., et al. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press. Pages 196–224. (As reprinted In Tuomela (1978). Pages 27-54.)Google Scholar
Popper, K. and Eccles, J. (1977). The Self and Its Brain. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quine, W. (1960). “Dispositions and Conditionals.” In Word and Object. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Pages 222–225.Google Scholar
Quine, W. (1974). “Dispositions.” In Roots of Reference. La Salle: Open Court Publishing Co. Pages 8–15. (As reprinted in Tuomela (1978). Pages 155-162.)Google Scholar
Quine, W. (1975). “Mind and Verbal Dispositions.“ In Mind and Language. Edited by Guttenplan, Samuel. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Pages 83–96.Google Scholar
Tuomela, R. (1977). Human Action and Its Explanation. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuomela, R. (e d.). (1978). Dispositions. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar