Full Idea
Powers are functions from circumstances to causal effects, and properties (on which powers depend) can be thought of as functions from sets of properties to sets of powers. Maybe we should call properties 'second-order powers', as they produce powers.
Gist of Idea
Properties are functions producing powers, and powers are functions producing effects
Source
Sydney Shoemaker (Causality and Properties [1980], §04)
Book Reference
Shoemaker,Sydney: 'Identity, Cause and Mind' [OUP 2003], p.212
A Reaction
He presents property as both a function, and a component of the function. This is the core picture on which modern scientific essentialism is built. See under Natural Theory|Laws of Nature.