Description

Nature's Metaphysics argues that a satisfactory philosophy of science requires a metaphysics that is based on the understanding that natural properties are essentially dispositional. Alexander Bird develops a dispositional essentialist account of the laws of nature, defending the claim that laws are metaphysically necessary. Professional philosophers and advanced students working in metaphysics and the philosophy of science will find this book both provocative and stimulating.

Features

• Bird is a leading figure in the field
• Original research at the cross-roads of metaphysics and the philosophy of science
• Challenges deep-seated metaphysical intuitions

Reviews

"Alexander Bird has done an excellent job in injecting argumentative rigor into a debate that has come to seem to some as having reached a stalemate.... The sheer weight and quality of argument in this book show that this is a debate that has a long way to run yet."--Helen Beebee, Times Literary Supplement

"This is a rewarding book. In terms of area, it has one foot firmly planted in metaphysics and the other just as firmly set in the philosophy of science. Nature's Metaphysics is distinctive for its thorough and detailed defense of fundatmental, natural properties as essentially dispositional and for its description of how these dispositional properties are thus suited to sustain the laws of nature as (metaphysically) necessary truths."--John W. Carroll, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Product Details

256 pages; ISBN13: 978-0-19-957311-0ISBN10: 0-19-957311-5

About the Author(s)