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Ideas of Stephen Mumford, by Text
[British, fl. 2001, Professor at Nottingham University, then Durham University.]
Pref
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p.-7
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14291
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Dispositions are not just possibilities - they are features of actual things
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01.1
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p.3
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14293
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Dispositions are ascribed to at least objects, substances and persons
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01.1
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p.4
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14294
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Dispositions are attacked as mere regularities of events, or place-holders for unknown properties
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01.2 iv
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p.8
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14295
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Many artefacts have dispositional essences, which make them what they are
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01.6
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p.20
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14298
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Dispositions can be contrasted either with occurrences, or with categorical properties
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01.6
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p.21
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14299
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There could be dispositions that are never manifested
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02.3
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p.34
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14302
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A lead molecule is not leaden, and macroscopic properties need not be microscopically present
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03.6
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p.50
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14306
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Anti-realists deny truth-values to all statements, and say evidence and ontology are inseparable
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03.7
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p.56
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14307
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Some dispositions are so far unknown, until we learn how to manifest them
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03.8
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p.60
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14309
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Truth-functional conditionals can't distinguish whether they are causal or accidental
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04.5
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p.75
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14310
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Dispositions are classifications of properties by functional role
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04.7
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p.81
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14311
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Dispositions are not equivalent to stronger-than-material conditionals
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04.7
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p.83
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14312
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Orthodoxy says dispositions entail conditionals (rather than being equivalent to them)
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04.7
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p.84
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14313
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All properties must be causal powers (since they wouldn't exist otherwise)
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04.9
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p.88
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14314
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If dispositions are powers, background conditions makes it hard to say what they do
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05.3
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p.101
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14315
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Categorical properties and dispositions appear to explain one another
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05.4
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p.102
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14316
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If dispositions have several categorical realisations, that makes the two separate
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05.5
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p.108
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14317
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I say the categorical base causes the disposition manifestation
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06.2
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p.123
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14318
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Intrinsic properties are just causal powers, and identifying a property as causal is then analytic
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06.4
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p.130
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14319
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Nomothetic explanations cite laws, and structural explanations cite mechanisms
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06.4
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p.133
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14320
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Subatomic particles may terminate explanation, if they lack structure
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06.5
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p.134
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14322
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If fragile just means 'breaks when dropped', it won't explain a breakage
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06.6
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p.137
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14323
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If every event has a cause, it is easy to invent a power to explain each case
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06.8
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p.140
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14324
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Ontology is unrelated to explanation, which concerns modes of presentation and states of knowledge
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06.9
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p.141
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14325
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Maybe dispositions can replace powers in metaphysics, as what induces property change
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07.10
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p.168
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14328
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Traditional powers initiate change, but are mysterious between those changes
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07.3
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p.149
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14326
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Unlike categorical bases, dispositions necessarily occupy a particular causal role
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08.3A
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p.178
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14331
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Categorical eliminativists say there are no dispositions, just categorical states or mechanisms
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08.5
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p.185
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14332
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There are four reasons for seeing categorical properties as the most fundamental
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08.6
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p.190
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14333
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Dispositions and categorical properties are two modes of presentation of the same thing
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09.1
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p.192
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14334
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Modest realism says there is a reality; the presumptuous view says we can accurately describe it
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09.7
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p.210
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14336
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Categorical predicates are those unconnected to functions
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10.1
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p.216
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14337
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Maybe dispositions can replace the 'laws of nature' as the basis of explanation
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10.2
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p.218
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14338
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In the 'laws' view events are basic, and properties are categorical, only existing when manifested
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10.3
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p.221
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14339
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Without laws, how can a dispositionalist explain general behaviour within kinds?
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10.4
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p.222
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14340
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It is a regularity that whenever a person sneezes, someone (somewhere) promptly coughs
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10.4
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p.225
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14341
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Dretske and Armstrong base laws on regularities between individual properties, not between events
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10.6
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p.230
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14342
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General laws depend upon the capacities of particulars, not the other way around
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10.6
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p.232
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14343
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To avoid a regress in explanations, ungrounded dispositions will always have to be posited
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10.7
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p.235
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14344
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Natural kinds, such as electrons, all behave the same way because we divide them by dispositions
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10.8
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p.237
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14345
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The necessity of an electron being an electron is conceptual, and won't ground necessary laws
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01.2
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p.6
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9408
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Science studies phenomena, but only metaphysics tells us what exists
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01.5
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p.13
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9411
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There are no laws of nature in Aristotle; they became standard with Descartes and Newton
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01.5
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p.14
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9412
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You only need laws if you (erroneously) think the world is otherwise inert
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03.3
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p.39
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9415
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Would it count as a regularity if the only five As were also B?
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03.3
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p.39
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9416
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Regularities are more likely with few instances, and guaranteed with no instances!
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03.4
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p.42
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9421
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The best systems theory says regularities derive from laws, rather than constituting them
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03.4
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p.44
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9422
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If the best system describes a nomological system, the laws are in nature, not in the description
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03.6
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p.49
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9427
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For Humeans the world is a world primarily of events
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04.4
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p.62
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9429
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Many forms of reasoning, such as extrapolation and analogy, are useful but deductively invalid
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04.5
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p.63
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9430
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Singular causes, and identities, might be necessary without falling under a law
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05.3
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p.70
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9431
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Pure regularities are rare, usually only found in idealized conditions
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06.2
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p.85
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9432
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Laws of nature are necessary relations between universal properties, rather than about particulars
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06.4
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p.90
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9433
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If laws can be uninstantiated, this favours the view of them as connecting universals
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07.2
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p.108
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9434
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Laws of nature are just the possession of essential properties by natural kinds
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07.3
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p.110
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9435
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A 'porridge' nominalist thinks we just divide reality in any way that suits us
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07.5
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p.117
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12248
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How can we show that a universally possessed property is an essential property?
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07.5
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p.117
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9437
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To distinguish accidental from essential properties, we must include possible members of kinds
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09.2
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p.144
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9439
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The Central Dilemma is how to explain an internal or external view of laws which govern
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09.7
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p.156
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9441
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Regularity laws don't explain, because they have no governing role
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10.1
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p.161
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9443
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It is only properties which are the source of necessity in the world
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10.3
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p.164
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9444
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There are four candidates for the logical form of law statements
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10.5
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p.169
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9445
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We can give up the counterfactual account if we take causal language at face value
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10.6
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p.171
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9446
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Properties are just natural clusters of powers
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10.6
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p.173
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9447
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If properties are clusters of powers, this can explain why properties resemble in degrees
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2012
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Metaphysics: a very short introduction
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3
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p.29
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18617
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Substances, unlike aggregates, can survive a change of parts
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8
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p.83
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18618
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Maybe possibilities are recombinations of the existing elements of reality
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8
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p.84
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18619
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Combinatorial possibility has to allow all elements to be combinable, which seems unlikely
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8
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p.85
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18620
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Combinatorial possibility relies on what actually exists (even over time), but there could be more
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2014
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Contemporary Efficient Causation: Aristotelian themes
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8
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p.335
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19068
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Causation interests us because we want to explain change
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