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Nomological Resemblance

Stenwall, Robin LU (2013) In Metaphysica 14(1). p.31-46
Abstract
Laws of nature concern the natural properties of things. Newton’s law of gravity states that the gravitational force between objects is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their distance; Coulomb’s law states a similar functional dependency between charged particles. Each of these properties confers a power to act as specified by the function of the laws. Consequently, properties of the same quantity confer resembling powers. Any theory that takes powers seriously must account for their resemblance. This is the challenge set by the paper. The first part is devoted to Armstrong’s view according to which property resemblance reduces to partial identities between categorical properties. I... (More)
Laws of nature concern the natural properties of things. Newton’s law of gravity states that the gravitational force between objects is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their distance; Coulomb’s law states a similar functional dependency between charged particles. Each of these properties confers a power to act as specified by the function of the laws. Consequently, properties of the same quantity confer resembling powers. Any theory that takes powers seriously must account for their resemblance. This is the challenge set by the paper. The first part is devoted to Armstrong’s view according to which property resemblance reduces to partial identities between categorical properties. I argue that Armstrong’s solution to the challenge involves accepting determinable properties but that these should not be admitted. In the second part, I argue that dispositional essentialism can satisfactorily account for orderings among powers in terms of degrees of overlapping potentialities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Resemblance, Categoricalism, Dispositionalism, Laws of nature, Powers
in
Metaphysica
volume
14
issue
1
pages
31 - 46
publisher
Springer
ISSN
1437-2053
DOI
10.1007/s12133-012-0108-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a1ce9cad-8224-44b5-a976-e3d779370013 (old id 3437770)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:55:30
date last changed
2020-08-17 17:07:58
@article{a1ce9cad-8224-44b5-a976-e3d779370013,
  abstract     = {{Laws of nature concern the natural properties of things. Newton’s law of gravity states that the gravitational force between objects is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their distance; Coulomb’s law states a similar functional dependency between charged particles. Each of these properties confers a power to act as specified by the function of the laws. Consequently, properties of the same quantity confer resembling powers. Any theory that takes powers seriously must account for their resemblance. This is the challenge set by the paper. The first part is devoted to Armstrong’s view according to which property resemblance reduces to partial identities between categorical properties. I argue that Armstrong’s solution to the challenge involves accepting determinable properties but that these should not be admitted. In the second part, I argue that dispositional essentialism can satisfactorily account for orderings among powers in terms of degrees of overlapping potentialities.}},
  author       = {{Stenwall, Robin}},
  issn         = {{1437-2053}},
  keywords     = {{Resemblance; Categoricalism; Dispositionalism; Laws of nature; Powers}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{31--46}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Metaphysica}},
  title        = {{Nomological Resemblance}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12133-012-0108-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s12133-012-0108-8}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}