Nature's Metaphysics argues that a satisfactory philosophy of science requires a metaphysics that is based on the understanding that natural properties are essentially dispositional. Alexander Bird develops a dispositional essentialist account of the laws of nature, defending the claim that laws are metaphysically necessary. Professional philosophers and advanced students working in metaphysics and the philosophy of science will find this book both provocative and stimulating.
| ISBN | 0199573115 | | Volumes | 1 | | ISBN13 | 9780199573110
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 401 | | Publisher | Oxford University Press | | Published in | Oxford | | Imprint | Oxford University Press | | Previous ISBN | 9780199227013 | | Format | Paperback | | Height (mm) | 233 | | Publication date | 17 Sep 2009 | | Width (mm) | 155 | | DEWEY | 110 | | Spine width (mm) | 14 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | Academic level | Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly | | Pages | 256 | |
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1. Introduction - laws and properties; 2. Dispositions; 3. Dispositional essentialism and the laws of nature; 4. Categoricalism; 5. Dispositional essentialism, modality, and intentionality; 6. The regress objection; 7. Structural properties; 8. The illusion of nomic contingency; 9. Are there any laws, and if so what are they?; 10. Concluding remarks; References
no one has yet elaborated and defended with so much subtlety, rigour, and depth the exciting new metaphysics of nature that replaces both versions of the traditional categoricalist picture of nature...Reading Bird is highly rewarding: he sheds new light on many problems by analysing them in a new way...Bird's book holds promise to become the authoritative statement of the new dispositionalist metaphysics. Max Kistler, Mind
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