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Single Idea 15490

[from 'Word and Object' by Willard Quine, in 8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 6. Dispositions / d. Dispositions as occurrent ]

Full Idea

Quine claims that an unmanifested disposition is explicable in terms of an object having a structure similar to a structure of an object that has manifested the supposed disposition.

Gist of Idea

Explain unmanifested dispositions as structural similarities to objects which have manifested them

Source

report of Willard Quine (Word and Object [1960], §46) by C.B. Martin - The Mind in Nature 07.4

Book Reference

Martin,C.B.: 'The Mind in Nature' [OUP 2008], p.86


A Reaction

This is probably the best account available for the firm empiricist who denies modal features in the actual world. In other words, a disposition is the result of an induction, not a conditional statement.