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Full Idea
A pure quality, a property altogether lacking in dispositionality, would be undetectable and would, in one obvious sense, make no difference to its possessor.
Gist of Idea
If properties were qualities without dispositions, they would be undetectable
Source
John Heil (From an Ontological Point of View [2003], 11.4)
Book Ref
Heil,John: 'From an Ontological Point of View' [OUP 2005], p.118
A Reaction
This seems to be a very forceful and simple reason why we cannot view properties simply as qualities of things. Heil wants properties to be dispositions and qualities; personally I would vote for them just being dispositions or powers.
| 1532 | Sensible qualities can't be real if they appear different to different creatures [Democritus, by Theophrastus] |
| 12478 | A 'quality' is a power to produce an idea in our minds [Locke] |
| 6991 | We examine objects to determine colour; we do not introspect [Jackson] |
| 15509 | Some say qualities are parts of things - as repeatable universals, or as particulars [Lewis] |
| 7028 | If properties were qualities without dispositions, they would be undetectable [Heil] |
| 7029 | Can we distinguish the way a property is from the property? [Heil] |
| 7030 | Properties don't possess ways they are, because that just is the property [Heil] |
| 8276 | Properties or qualities are essentially adjectival, not objectual [Lowe] |