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Mind 2000 109(436):757-780; doi:10.1093/mind/109.436.757
© 2000 by Mind Association
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The semantics and ontology of dispositions

DH Mellor

Darwin College, Cambridge, CB3 9EU, UK E-mail: D.H.Mellor@phil.cam.ac.uk

The paper looks at the semantics and ontology of dispositions in the light of recent work on the subject. Objections to the simple conditionals apparently entailed by disposition statements are met by replacing them with so-called 'reduction sentences' and some implications of this are explored. The usual distinction between categorical and dispositional properties is criticised and the relation between dispositions and their bases examined. Applying this discussion to two typical cases leads to the conclusion that fragility is not a real property and that, while both temperature and its bases are, this does not generate any problem of overdetermination.


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