green numbers give full details | back to texts | unexpand this idea
7435 | Dispositions are second-order properties, the property of having some property |
Full Idea: It was proposed that dispositions are second-order properties of objects: the property of having some property. | |||
From: report of Jackson/Pargetter/Prior (Three theses about dispositions [1982]) by David M. Armstrong - Pref to new 'Materialist Theory' p.xvii | |||
A reaction: It seems more plausible to say that dispositions are first-order properties - that is, properties are dispositions, which are causal powers. A disposition to smoke is to have a causal power which leads to smoking. |