Powers and Dispositions in Contemporary Metaphysics

Abstract

Dispositions are properties that make their bearers liable to cause or undergo change – for example, fragility makes its bearers liable to break. One of the interesting recent developments in analytic metaphysics is the idea that dispositions are not reducible to non-dispositional properties and they can be deployed in novel analyses of causation, natural laws, free will, teleology, normativity, and modality; in addition, they could even help establish idealism. The article gives an overview of the origins and main foci of these debates.