The Ontology of Events, Powers and Dispositions

July 20-21, 2009

Randall Dipert and Neil Williams (University at Buffalo)

Two-day Course organized in conjunction with the International Conference on Biomedical Ontology.

This course will be a two part course:

Day 1: EVENTS (TBD)

Day 2: POWERS AND DISPOSITIONS This part of the course will provide an introduction to the debates concerning dispositional properties. Dispositional concepts occupy an important place in our scientific explanations and models, and are all but indispensible in our understanding of the causal mechanisms of the world. For instance, we understand hearts in terms of the disposition to circulate blood, and red blood cells in terms of the powers to transport oxygen throughout the body.

Three major issues to be discussed are:

(i) How should we distinguish dispositional properties from non-dispositional properties?

(ii) Can dispositions be analyzed in terms of counterfactual conditionals?

(iii) Are dispositions reducible?

Faculty

Randall Dipert is C. S. Peirce Professor of Philosophy in the University at Buffalo. His research interests include American pragmatism, logic and the phileosophy of mathematics, the ontology of relations, and the ontology of events.

Neil Williams is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the University at Buffalo. His research interests focus on the intersection of metaphysics and the philosophy of science, especially with regards to causation and the laws of nature.

Literature

Bird, Alex. (2007). Nature’s Metaphysics. Oxford University Press, New York.

Borghini, Andrea and Williams, Neil. (2008) A Dispositional Theory of Possibility, Dialectica, 62, 21–41.

Molnar, George. (2003) Powers. Oxford University Press, New York.

Mumford, Stephen. (1998) Dispositions. Oxford University Press, New York.

Williams, Neil. (2005) Static and Dynamic Dispositions Synthese, 146, 303–324.

Williams, Neil. (2007) The Factory Model of Disease, Neil Williams, The Monist, 2007; 90(4): 555-584.