Single Idea 23711

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 4. Powers as Essence]

Full Idea

In the 'dispositional essentialist' account (the main view) …what it is to be a power is to be a property whose essence is exhaustively constituted by dispositions.

Gist of Idea

A power is a property which consists entirely of dispositions

Source

Friend/Kimpton-Nye (Dispositions and Powers [2023], 3.4)

Book Reference

Friend/Kimpton-Nye: 'Dispositions and Powers' [CUP 2023], p.55


A Reaction

[compressed] Sounds wrong to me. A very complex property (such as 'stormy' weather) could be nothing more than a large bundle of dispositions, but that wouldn't make it a 'power', which has to be simpler and more basic.

Related Ideas

Idea 23712 Powers are qualitative properties which fully ground dispositions [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]

Idea 23714 Dispositional essentialism (unlike the grounding view) says only fundamental properties are powers [Friend/Kimpton-Nye]