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Dispositions are essential to our understanding of the world. Dispositions: A Debate is an extended dialogue between three distinguished philosophers - D.M. Armstrong, C.B. Martin and U.T. Place - on the many problems associated with dispositions, which reveals their own distinctive accounts of the nature of dispositions. These are then linked to other issues such as the nature of mind, matter, universals, existence, laws of nature and causation. eBook available with sample pages: 0203004876
Dispositions are essential to our understanding of the world.
Dispositions: A Debate is an extended dialogue between three
distinguished philosophers - D.M. Armstrong, C.B. Martin and U.T.
Place - on the many problems associated with dispositions, which
reveals their own distinctive accounts of the nature of
dispositions. These are then linked to other issues such as the
nature of mind, matter, universals, existence, laws of nature and
causation.
What are the most fundamental features of the world? Do minds stand
outside the natural order? Is a unified picture of mental and
physical reality possible? The Mind in Nature provides a staunchly
realist account of the world as a unified system incorporating both
the mental and the physical. C. B. Martin, an original and
influential exponent of 'ontologically serious' metaphysics, echoes
Locke's dictum that 'all things that exist are only particulars',
and argues that properties are powerful qualities. He also spells
out the implications of this view for philosophical conceptions of
causation, intentionality, consciousness, and the mind-body
problem.
Martin emphasizes the importance of non-conscious 'vegetative'
systems, which provide clear examples of intentionality in the form
of representational use. The slide from representational use to
consciousness involves a change in the material of use, but not the
form of representation. A concluding chapter provides an argument
for the view that an ontology of particular substances and
properties leads ineluctably to monism: the bus we board with Locke
takes us directly to the world of Spinoza and Einstein. Along the
way, we are led to understand the nature of minds and conscious
states of mind in a way that avoids both reductionism (the idea
that mental is reducible to the non-mental) and dualism (the idea
that mental substances or properties differ dramatically from
physical substances and properties).
What are the most fundamental features of the world? Do minds stand
outside the natural order? Is a unified picture of mental and
physical reality possible? The Mind in Nature provides a staunchly
realist account of the world as a unified system incorporating both
the mental and the physical. C. B. Martin, an original and
influential exponent of "ontologically serious" metaphysics, echoes
Locke's dictum that "all things that exist are only particulars,"
and argues that properties are powerful qualities. He also spells
out the implications of this view for philosophical conceptions of
causation, intentionality, consciousness, and the mind-body
problem.
Martin emphasizes the importance of non-conscious "vegetative"
systems, which provide clear examples of intentionality in the form
of representational use. The slide from representational use to
consciousness involves a change in the material of use, but not the
form of representation. A concluding chapter provides an argument
for the view that an ontology of particular substances and
properties leads ineluctably to monism: the bus we board with Locke
takes us directly to the world of Spinoza and Einstein. Along the
way, we are led to understand the nature of minds and conscious
states of mind in a way that avoids both reductionism (the idea
that mental is reducible to the non-mental) and dualism (the idea
that mental substances or properties differ dramatically from
physical substances and properties).
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