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Single Idea 19021

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 6. Dispositions / a. Dispositions ]

Full Idea

I do not have the ability to play the violin. Nor does my desk. Unlike my desk, however, I possess the ability to learn to play the violin - the ability, that is, to acquire the ability to play the violin. I have an 'iterated ability' to play the violin.

Gist of Idea

I have an 'iterated ability' to learn the violin - that is, the ability to acquire that ability

Source

Barbara Vetter (Potentiality [2015], 4.6)

Book Ref

Vetter,Barbara: 'Potentiality: from Dispositions to Modality' [OUP 2015], p.135

A Reaction

An important idea, though the examples are more likely to come from human behaviour than from the non-human physical world.

Related Idea

Idea 19022 Water has a potentiality to acquire a potentiality to break (by freezing) [Vetter]

The 25 ideas with the same theme [idea of a disposition towards certain behaviour]:

16735 In the 17th century, 'disposition' usually just means the spatial arrangement of parts [Boyle, by Pasnau]
14292 Dispositions seem more ethereal than behaviour; a non-occult account of them would be nice [Goodman]
16948 Once we know the mechanism of a disposition, we can eliminate 'similarity' [Quine]
15723 Either dispositions rest on structures, or we keep saying 'all things being equal' [Quine]
15469 Dispositions in action can be destroyed, be recovered, or remain unchanged [Martin,CB]
14330 To be realists about dispositions, we can only discuss them through their categorical basis [Armstrong]
5458 Nearly all fundamental properties of physics are dispositional [Ellis]
13585 The most fundamental properties of nature (mass, charge, spin ...) all seem to be dispositions [Ellis]
16452 Dispositions have modal properties, of which properties things would have counterfactually [Stalnaker]
14308 We can bring dispositions into existence, as in creating an identifier [Dennett, by Mumford]
11943 Dispositions can be causes, so they must be part of the actual world [Molnar]
7025 Are a property's dispositions built in, or contingently added? [Heil]
14293 Dispositions are ascribed to at least objects, substances and persons [Mumford]
14298 Dispositions can be contrasted either with occurrences, or with categorical properties [Mumford]
14326 Unlike categorical bases, dispositions necessarily occupy a particular causal role [Mumford]
14583 Dispositionality is a natural selection function, picking outcomes from the range of possibilities [Mumford/Anjum]
16788 Instead of adding Aristotelian forms to physical stuff, one could add dispositions [Pasnau]
19021 I have an 'iterated ability' to learn the violin - that is, the ability to acquire that ability [Vetter]
23698 Dispositions have directed behaviour which occurs if triggered [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]
23699 'Masked' dispositions fail to react because something intervenes [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]
23700 A disposition is 'altered' when the stimulus reverses the disposition [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]
23701 A disposition is 'mimicked' if a different cause produces that effect from that stimulus [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]
23702 A 'trick' can look like a stimulus for a disposition which will happen without it [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]
23703 Some dispositions manifest themselves without a stimulus [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]
23704 We could analyse dispositions as 'possibilities', with no mention of a stimulus [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]