Papers by Florian Fischer
In this paper we develop an analysis of dispositions by means of causal Bayes nets. In particular... more In this paper we develop an analysis of dispositions by means of causal Bayes nets. In particular, we analyze dispositions as cause-effect structures that increase the probability of the manifestation when the stimulus is brought about by intervention in certain circumstances. We then highlight several advantages of our analysis and how it can handle problems arising for classical analyses of dispositions such as masks, mimickers, and finks.
Citation information: Gebharter, A., & Fischer, F. (2021). A causal Bayes net analysis of dispositions. Synthese, 198(5), 4873-4895. doi:10.1007/s11229-019-02374-8
Logic and Philosophy of Time II: Themes from Prior, edited by Per Hasle, Patrick Blackburn and Peter Øhrstrøm, Aalborg University Press, 2019
In this paper I revisit the debate about tense-versus tenseless theory, or A-versus B-theory. Can... more In this paper I revisit the debate about tense-versus tenseless theory, or A-versus B-theory. Canonically, Arthur Prior's seminal paper Thank Goodness That's Over is said to have triggered the switch from the old to the new B-theory. I argue that Moritz Schlick made the case for indispensable A-sentences 25 years prior to Prior. More precisely, I assert that both philosophers support the same theses: 1) A-notions are indispensable and 2) A-sentences are not in general translatable into B-sentences. While this is the case, Schlick's argument is based in a very different context than Prior's and also Schlick's reasons for holding 1) differ from Prior's. Therefor it is questionable whether Schlick's paper could have had the same influence that Prior's paper had.
In this paper, I will argue that we need to consider the `change- makers’ if we want to provide a... more In this paper, I will argue that we need to consider the `change- makers’ if we want to provide a comprehensive theory of persistence. The classical theories of persistence, endurantism and perdurantism in all their flavours, are content with avoiding the looming contradiction in the context of Leibniz’s Law. They do not account for how change is brought about. I argue that this is not sufficient to constitute a theory of persistence and I will introduce produrantism as a new access towards a comprehensive approach.
There are several intertwined debates in the area of contemporary philosophy of time. One field o... more There are several intertwined debates in the area of contemporary philosophy of time. One field of inquiry is the nature of time itself. Presentists think that only the present moment exists whereas eternalists believe that all of (space-)time exists on a par. The second main field of inquiry is the question of how objects persist through time. The endurantist claims that objects are three-dimensional wholes, which persist by being wholly present, whereas the perdurantist thinks that objects are four- dimensional and that their temporal parts are the bearers of properties. The third debate in the field of contemporary philosophy of time is about tense- versus tenseless theory. Tensers are at odds with detensers about the status of the linguistic reference to the present moment.
The important switch from the so-called old B-theory to the new tenseless theory of time (NTT), w... more The important switch from the so-called old B-theory to the new tenseless theory of time (NTT), which had significant implications for the field of tense and indexicals, occurred after Carnap's era. Against this new background, Carnap's original inter-translatability thesis can no longer be upheld. The most natural way out would be to modify Carnap's position according to the NTT; but this is not compatible with Carnap's metaphysical neutrality thesis. Even worse, Carnap's work on measurement theory can be used to develop an argument in favour of the A-theory. I argue that there are tensed basic sentences which are needed in order to construct a tenseless system and thus cannot be translated without loss of meaning into tenseless ones (old B-theory) or made true by tenseless facts (NTT).
A poster at the GAP.9 conference. (Winner of the best poster award). Thanks to Caro for drawing t... more A poster at the GAP.9 conference. (Winner of the best poster award). Thanks to Caro for drawing this nice pictures
The paper reviews Balashov’s Asymmetry Thesis concerning co-existing (point-sized) enduring objec... more The paper reviews Balashov’s Asymmetry Thesis concerning co-existing (point-sized) enduring objects, on the one hand, and perduring ones, on the other. In this regard, it becomes crucial to investigate whether, at a given spacetime point p, it is located only the respective temporal part of a perdur- ing whole, or that whole as well. Two alternatives ought to be distinguished and, then, I will argue as follows:
If the perduring whole is located where its parts are, the original asymmetry- thesis has to be rejected. If, however, the perduring whole is not located where its parts are, the spatiotemporal locations of the parts can no longer be used to ground the co-existence relation. But, with the modified co-existence relation the asymmetry between perdurantism and endurantism turns out to be even much stronger than it has been assumed.
Die neuere Debatte um Naturgesetze findet ihren Ausgang im logischen Empirismus, der wiederum auf... more Die neuere Debatte um Naturgesetze findet ihren Ausgang im logischen Empirismus, der wiederum auf Annahmen beruht, die auf David Hume zurückgehen. Hume bestreitet, dass wir (notwendige) Verbindungen zwischen Ursache und Wirkung finden können. Bis heute steht zur Debatte, ob man eine adäquate Theorie von Naturgesetzen ohne Rückgriff auf notwendige Verbindungen, formulieren kann.
Ein prominenter Versuch einer solchen 'sparsamen' Naturgesetz-Konzeption ist die Regularitätstheorie von David Lewis. Ihr wird jedoch vorgeworfen, dass sie u.a. zentrale Begriffe (wie Einfachheit) nicht angemessen bestimmen kann.
Daher haben sich Theorien entwickelt, die über die Humean'sche Ontologie hinausgehen. Der Auffassung von David Armstrong, Fred Dretske und Michael Tooley (ADT) zufolge herrscht zwischen verschiedenen Eigenschaften eine Relation der Necessitation. Doch es ist völlig unklar und unerklärt, wie die Necessitations-Relation den von ADT angenommenen Zwang in der Natur hervorbringen soll.
Einer weiteren Familie von Naturgesetztheorien, die ebenfalls die empiristische Ontologie übersteigen, zufolge werden Naturgesetzaussagen als Dispositionszuschreibungen aufgefasst. Die Standardanalyse nimmt an, dass Dispositionen bei gegebenem Stimulus zu ihrer Manifestation führen. Marc Johnstons’ Masken stellen jedoch schwerwiegende Gegenargumente dar, in denen die Manifestation trotz vorliegendem Stimulus und erhalten bleibender Disposition verhindert wird.
Ich entwickle einen Vorschlag, welchem eine Unterscheidung zwischen Dispositions-Manifestation und resultierendem Verhalten zentral ist. Masken können das (normale) resultierende Verhalten verhindern, aber nicht die Manifestation einer Disposition. Das aktuale resultierende Verhalten ist die Summe der Beiträge aller beteiligten Dispositions-Manifestationen. Diese Konzeption erlaubt es, dass die Manifestation in allen Fällen dieselbe ist und dennoch das resultierende Verhalten variiert. Darauf aufbauend kann die naturgesetzliche Notwendigkeit erfasst werden, ohne einfach postuliert (ADT), oder gänzlich abgelehnt (Lewis) zu werden.
Books by Florian Fischer
Natural Laws as Dispositions, 2018
The book provides a novel account of laws of nature via dispositions. Laws of nature play a param... more The book provides a novel account of laws of nature via dispositions. Laws of nature play a paramount role in philosophy, science and everyday life. Understanding laws of nature is philosophically interesting on its own right but also many important notions belonging to philosophy of science, like causation, prediction and explanation, are intimately related to the laws of nature.
The book outlines the alleged characteristics of the laws of nature and introduces the main families of theories of laws of nature -- neo-humean, ADT and dispositional theories. It then develops an account of dispositions the `triadic process picture of dispositions’ (TPD) and applies it to the debate about laws of nature. Finally, the (TPD) account of the necessity of the laws of nature is presented: laws of nature are naturally necessary and metaphysically contingent.
Thus the book provides an introduction to the debates about laws of nature as well as dispositions, while at the same time developing a novel theory and thus is interesting for the beginner as well as expert in these fields.
The idea to make this special issue was born during the Tensed vs Tense- less Theory symposium (h... more The idea to make this special issue was born during the Tensed vs Tense- less Theory symposium (http://tense-less.weebly.com) at the SOPhiA conference in Salzburg 2014. There, also, the Society for Philosophy of Time (SPoT - http://s-p-o-t.weebly.com) was founded. During the subsequent SPoT discussion groups and workshops (http://s-p-o- t.weebly.com/events.html) some of the papers of this volume have been presented, in one form or other. As this special issue corporealised the SPoT was growing. I’m grateful to everybody who was part of this exiting journey, but especially I want to thank Christian J. Feldbacher- Escamilla and Alexander Gebharter from KRITERION — Journal of Philosophy to make this special issue possible.
As the SPoT is set up very broadly, this special issue aims at depicting philosophy of time in all of its varieties. After ‘A Slightly Opinionated Introduction’ into philosophy of time, Jesse Mulder questions the set up of the eternalism/presentism debate in his ‘Defining Original Presentism’. His paper reflects the cutting edge of contemporary debate about the nature of time. Then, my paper touches upon the intersection of philosophy of time and philosophy of science, investigating the rela- tion between ‘Carnap’s Logic of Science and Reference to the Present Moment’. Cord Friebe’s ‘Time Order, Time Direction, and the Presentist’s View on Spacetime’ covers the intersection between philosophy of physics and philosophy of time. The last part of the special issue has a more historical twist – albeit still being systematic. Sonja Deppe’s ‘The Mind-Dependence of the Relational Structure of Time’ is concerned with more recent history (Henri Bergson), while Pamela Zinn’s ‘Lucretius On Time and Its Perception’ examines more ancient history.
Workshops by Florian Fischer
International Workshop
Time and Death
Ewigkeit, Zeit und Tod in der Literatur
23 September 2019
U... more International Workshop
Time and Death
Ewigkeit, Zeit und Tod in der Literatur
23 September 2019
Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken
Panel at the Germanistentag 2019
Talks
Damiano Costa (Lugano) - Relativity and the After Live
Florian Fischer (Siegen) - Death and Eternity in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy of Time
Ellen Pilsworth (London) - tba
Philipp Ritzen (Düsseldorf) - tba
Organisation
Florian Fischer and Philipp Ritzen
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/time-and-death.html
International Workshop
Reassessing Bergson
11 - 12 September 2019
University of Cambridge
Speak... more International Workshop
Reassessing Bergson
11 - 12 September 2019
University of Cambridge
Speakers
Barry Dainton (Liverpool)
Sonja Deppe (Landau)
Élie During (Paris X Nanterre)
Suzanne Guerlac (Berkeley)
Anne Sophie Meincke (Southampton)
Emmanuel Picavet (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Steven Savitt (Vancouver)
Mark Sinclair (Roehampton)
Yaron Wolf (Oxford)
Frédéric Worms (ENS, Paris)
Caterina Zanfi (CNRS / ENS)
Organization
Florian Fischer, Matyáš Moravec and Sam Sokolsky-Tifft
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/reassessing-bergson.html
God and Time III, 2019
International Workshop
God and Time III: The Saga Continues
Philosophical and Theological Perspe... more International Workshop
God and Time III: The Saga Continues
Philosophical and Theological Perspectives on Time
University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano
23 - 24 August 2019
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/god-and-time-iii.html
Talks by Florian Fischer
Agency, Past and Future, 2019
In this talk I evaluate the shape of things to come. After a short strike up about change and per... more In this talk I evaluate the shape of things to come. After a short strike up about change and persistence, I muse about what makes the shape of things to come: present dispositions. I argue that we need to take the interactions of dispositions ontologically serious - something which I have coined wirkungen. We also need to understand this interactions radically dynamic. Following Henri Bergson, I argue that `things' are abstractions of underlying processes. These abstractions are not arbitrary however, they follow our potentialities for acting.
In diesem Vortrag stelle ich das „Problem der Persistenz“ sowie verschiedene Lösungsvorschläge, w... more In diesem Vortrag stelle ich das „Problem der Persistenz“ sowie verschiedene Lösungsvorschläge, welche seit der Neuformulierung dieses Problems durch David Lewis im Zuge der „New Metaphysics“ vorgebracht wurden vor. Ich argumentiere, dass die moderne Debatte um Persistenz (ausschließlich) darauf fokussiert ist Differenz so auszubuchstabieren, dass die bei einer Veränderung auftretenden inkompatiblen Eigenschaften nicht zu einem Widerspruch führen. Dem gegenüber stelle ich meinen eigenen Ansatz — Produrantismus — vor, welcher zwar auch Differenz widerspruchsfrei konzipiert und systematisch äquivalent zu Perdurantismus und Konstitutentismus ist; dessen Daseinsberechtigung sich aber eben nicht darin erschöpft den drohenden Widerspruch zu vermeiden.
In this paper we develop an analysis of dispositions by means of causal Bayes nets. In particular... more In this paper we develop an analysis of dispositions by means of causal Bayes nets. In particular, we analyze dispositions as cause-effect structures that increase the probability of the manifestation when the stimulus is brought about by intervention in certain circumstances. We then highlight several advantages of our analysis and how it can handle problems arising for classical analyses of dispositions such as masks, mimickers, and finks.
I will argue that we need to consider the `change-makers’ if we want to provide a comprehensive t... more I will argue that we need to consider the `change-makers’ if we want to provide a comprehensive theory of persistence. The classical theories of persistence, endurantism and perdurantism in all their flavours, are content with avoiding the looming contradiction in the context of Leibniz’s Law. They do not account for how change is brought about. I argue that this is not sufficient to constitute a theory of persistence and I will introduce produrantism as a new access towards a comprehensive approach.
One important problem for dispositional theories of laws of nature is the tension between the loc... more One important problem for dispositional theories of laws of nature is the tension between the locality of dispositions and the being global of the laws. Already within the debate about dispositions a similar problem arises: how do dispositions synchronise their behaviour if each of them is only local? Also the laws natural necessity seems endangered by the locality of the dispositions. I propose a theory of dispositions as natural kinds, which come with inbuilt combination principles for other natural kinds. These ensure the global and modal behavioural stability and thus are good candidates to ground universal und necessary laws.
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Papers by Florian Fischer
Citation information: Gebharter, A., & Fischer, F. (2021). A causal Bayes net analysis of dispositions. Synthese, 198(5), 4873-4895. doi:10.1007/s11229-019-02374-8
If the perduring whole is located where its parts are, the original asymmetry- thesis has to be rejected. If, however, the perduring whole is not located where its parts are, the spatiotemporal locations of the parts can no longer be used to ground the co-existence relation. But, with the modified co-existence relation the asymmetry between perdurantism and endurantism turns out to be even much stronger than it has been assumed.
Ein prominenter Versuch einer solchen 'sparsamen' Naturgesetz-Konzeption ist die Regularitätstheorie von David Lewis. Ihr wird jedoch vorgeworfen, dass sie u.a. zentrale Begriffe (wie Einfachheit) nicht angemessen bestimmen kann.
Daher haben sich Theorien entwickelt, die über die Humean'sche Ontologie hinausgehen. Der Auffassung von David Armstrong, Fred Dretske und Michael Tooley (ADT) zufolge herrscht zwischen verschiedenen Eigenschaften eine Relation der Necessitation. Doch es ist völlig unklar und unerklärt, wie die Necessitations-Relation den von ADT angenommenen Zwang in der Natur hervorbringen soll.
Einer weiteren Familie von Naturgesetztheorien, die ebenfalls die empiristische Ontologie übersteigen, zufolge werden Naturgesetzaussagen als Dispositionszuschreibungen aufgefasst. Die Standardanalyse nimmt an, dass Dispositionen bei gegebenem Stimulus zu ihrer Manifestation führen. Marc Johnstons’ Masken stellen jedoch schwerwiegende Gegenargumente dar, in denen die Manifestation trotz vorliegendem Stimulus und erhalten bleibender Disposition verhindert wird.
Ich entwickle einen Vorschlag, welchem eine Unterscheidung zwischen Dispositions-Manifestation und resultierendem Verhalten zentral ist. Masken können das (normale) resultierende Verhalten verhindern, aber nicht die Manifestation einer Disposition. Das aktuale resultierende Verhalten ist die Summe der Beiträge aller beteiligten Dispositions-Manifestationen. Diese Konzeption erlaubt es, dass die Manifestation in allen Fällen dieselbe ist und dennoch das resultierende Verhalten variiert. Darauf aufbauend kann die naturgesetzliche Notwendigkeit erfasst werden, ohne einfach postuliert (ADT), oder gänzlich abgelehnt (Lewis) zu werden.
Books by Florian Fischer
The book outlines the alleged characteristics of the laws of nature and introduces the main families of theories of laws of nature -- neo-humean, ADT and dispositional theories. It then develops an account of dispositions the `triadic process picture of dispositions’ (TPD) and applies it to the debate about laws of nature. Finally, the (TPD) account of the necessity of the laws of nature is presented: laws of nature are naturally necessary and metaphysically contingent.
Thus the book provides an introduction to the debates about laws of nature as well as dispositions, while at the same time developing a novel theory and thus is interesting for the beginner as well as expert in these fields.
As the SPoT is set up very broadly, this special issue aims at depicting philosophy of time in all of its varieties. After ‘A Slightly Opinionated Introduction’ into philosophy of time, Jesse Mulder questions the set up of the eternalism/presentism debate in his ‘Defining Original Presentism’. His paper reflects the cutting edge of contemporary debate about the nature of time. Then, my paper touches upon the intersection of philosophy of time and philosophy of science, investigating the rela- tion between ‘Carnap’s Logic of Science and Reference to the Present Moment’. Cord Friebe’s ‘Time Order, Time Direction, and the Presentist’s View on Spacetime’ covers the intersection between philosophy of physics and philosophy of time. The last part of the special issue has a more historical twist – albeit still being systematic. Sonja Deppe’s ‘The Mind-Dependence of the Relational Structure of Time’ is concerned with more recent history (Henri Bergson), while Pamela Zinn’s ‘Lucretius On Time and Its Perception’ examines more ancient history.
Workshops by Florian Fischer
Time and Death
Ewigkeit, Zeit und Tod in der Literatur
23 September 2019
Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken
Panel at the Germanistentag 2019
Talks
Damiano Costa (Lugano) - Relativity and the After Live
Florian Fischer (Siegen) - Death and Eternity in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy of Time
Ellen Pilsworth (London) - tba
Philipp Ritzen (Düsseldorf) - tba
Organisation
Florian Fischer and Philipp Ritzen
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/time-and-death.html
Reassessing Bergson
11 - 12 September 2019
University of Cambridge
Speakers
Barry Dainton (Liverpool)
Sonja Deppe (Landau)
Élie During (Paris X Nanterre)
Suzanne Guerlac (Berkeley)
Anne Sophie Meincke (Southampton)
Emmanuel Picavet (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Steven Savitt (Vancouver)
Mark Sinclair (Roehampton)
Yaron Wolf (Oxford)
Frédéric Worms (ENS, Paris)
Caterina Zanfi (CNRS / ENS)
Organization
Florian Fischer, Matyáš Moravec and Sam Sokolsky-Tifft
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/reassessing-bergson.html
God and Time III: The Saga Continues
Philosophical and Theological Perspectives on Time
University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano
23 - 24 August 2019
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/god-and-time-iii.html
Talks by Florian Fischer
Citation information: Gebharter, A., & Fischer, F. (2021). A causal Bayes net analysis of dispositions. Synthese, 198(5), 4873-4895. doi:10.1007/s11229-019-02374-8
If the perduring whole is located where its parts are, the original asymmetry- thesis has to be rejected. If, however, the perduring whole is not located where its parts are, the spatiotemporal locations of the parts can no longer be used to ground the co-existence relation. But, with the modified co-existence relation the asymmetry between perdurantism and endurantism turns out to be even much stronger than it has been assumed.
Ein prominenter Versuch einer solchen 'sparsamen' Naturgesetz-Konzeption ist die Regularitätstheorie von David Lewis. Ihr wird jedoch vorgeworfen, dass sie u.a. zentrale Begriffe (wie Einfachheit) nicht angemessen bestimmen kann.
Daher haben sich Theorien entwickelt, die über die Humean'sche Ontologie hinausgehen. Der Auffassung von David Armstrong, Fred Dretske und Michael Tooley (ADT) zufolge herrscht zwischen verschiedenen Eigenschaften eine Relation der Necessitation. Doch es ist völlig unklar und unerklärt, wie die Necessitations-Relation den von ADT angenommenen Zwang in der Natur hervorbringen soll.
Einer weiteren Familie von Naturgesetztheorien, die ebenfalls die empiristische Ontologie übersteigen, zufolge werden Naturgesetzaussagen als Dispositionszuschreibungen aufgefasst. Die Standardanalyse nimmt an, dass Dispositionen bei gegebenem Stimulus zu ihrer Manifestation führen. Marc Johnstons’ Masken stellen jedoch schwerwiegende Gegenargumente dar, in denen die Manifestation trotz vorliegendem Stimulus und erhalten bleibender Disposition verhindert wird.
Ich entwickle einen Vorschlag, welchem eine Unterscheidung zwischen Dispositions-Manifestation und resultierendem Verhalten zentral ist. Masken können das (normale) resultierende Verhalten verhindern, aber nicht die Manifestation einer Disposition. Das aktuale resultierende Verhalten ist die Summe der Beiträge aller beteiligten Dispositions-Manifestationen. Diese Konzeption erlaubt es, dass die Manifestation in allen Fällen dieselbe ist und dennoch das resultierende Verhalten variiert. Darauf aufbauend kann die naturgesetzliche Notwendigkeit erfasst werden, ohne einfach postuliert (ADT), oder gänzlich abgelehnt (Lewis) zu werden.
The book outlines the alleged characteristics of the laws of nature and introduces the main families of theories of laws of nature -- neo-humean, ADT and dispositional theories. It then develops an account of dispositions the `triadic process picture of dispositions’ (TPD) and applies it to the debate about laws of nature. Finally, the (TPD) account of the necessity of the laws of nature is presented: laws of nature are naturally necessary and metaphysically contingent.
Thus the book provides an introduction to the debates about laws of nature as well as dispositions, while at the same time developing a novel theory and thus is interesting for the beginner as well as expert in these fields.
As the SPoT is set up very broadly, this special issue aims at depicting philosophy of time in all of its varieties. After ‘A Slightly Opinionated Introduction’ into philosophy of time, Jesse Mulder questions the set up of the eternalism/presentism debate in his ‘Defining Original Presentism’. His paper reflects the cutting edge of contemporary debate about the nature of time. Then, my paper touches upon the intersection of philosophy of time and philosophy of science, investigating the rela- tion between ‘Carnap’s Logic of Science and Reference to the Present Moment’. Cord Friebe’s ‘Time Order, Time Direction, and the Presentist’s View on Spacetime’ covers the intersection between philosophy of physics and philosophy of time. The last part of the special issue has a more historical twist – albeit still being systematic. Sonja Deppe’s ‘The Mind-Dependence of the Relational Structure of Time’ is concerned with more recent history (Henri Bergson), while Pamela Zinn’s ‘Lucretius On Time and Its Perception’ examines more ancient history.
Time and Death
Ewigkeit, Zeit und Tod in der Literatur
23 September 2019
Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken
Panel at the Germanistentag 2019
Talks
Damiano Costa (Lugano) - Relativity and the After Live
Florian Fischer (Siegen) - Death and Eternity in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy of Time
Ellen Pilsworth (London) - tba
Philipp Ritzen (Düsseldorf) - tba
Organisation
Florian Fischer and Philipp Ritzen
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/time-and-death.html
Reassessing Bergson
11 - 12 September 2019
University of Cambridge
Speakers
Barry Dainton (Liverpool)
Sonja Deppe (Landau)
Élie During (Paris X Nanterre)
Suzanne Guerlac (Berkeley)
Anne Sophie Meincke (Southampton)
Emmanuel Picavet (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Steven Savitt (Vancouver)
Mark Sinclair (Roehampton)
Yaron Wolf (Oxford)
Frédéric Worms (ENS, Paris)
Caterina Zanfi (CNRS / ENS)
Organization
Florian Fischer, Matyáš Moravec and Sam Sokolsky-Tifft
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/reassessing-bergson.html
God and Time III: The Saga Continues
Philosophical and Theological Perspectives on Time
University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano
23 - 24 August 2019
https://s-p-o-t.weebly.com/god-and-time-iii.html
Ein prominenter Versuch einer solchen 'sparsamen' Naturgesetz-Konzeption ist die Regularitätstheorie von David Lewis. Ihr wird jedoch vorgeworfen, dass sie u.a. zentrale Begriffe (wie Einfachheit) nicht angemessen bestimmen kann.
Daher haben sich Theorien entwickelt, die über die Humean'sche Ontologie hinausgehen. Der Auffassung von David Armstrong, Fred Dretske und Michael Tooley (ADT) zufolge herrscht zwischen verschiedenen Eigenschaften eine Relation der Necessitation. Doch es ist völlig unklar und unerklärt, wie die Necessitations-Relation den von ADT angenommenen Zwang in der Natur hervorbringen soll.
Einer weiteren Familie von Naturgesetztheorien, die ebenfalls die empiristische Ontologie übersteigen, zufolge werden Naturgesetzaussagen als Dispositionszuschreibungen aufgefasst. Die Standardanalyse nimmt an, dass Dispositionen bei gegebenem Stimulus zu ihrer Manifestation führen. Marc Johnstons’ Masken stellen jedoch schwerwiegende Gegenargumente dar, in denen die Manifestation trotz vorliegendem Stimulus und erhalten bleibender Disposition verhindert wird.
Ich entwickle einen Vorschlag, welchem eine Unterscheidung zwischen Dispositions-Manifestation und resultierendem Verhalten zentral ist. Masken können das (normale) resultierende Verhalten verhindern, aber nicht die Manifestation einer Disposition. Das aktuale resultierende Verhalten ist die Summe der Beiträge aller beteiligten Dispositions-Manifestationen. Diese Konzeption erlaubt es, dass die Manifestation in allen Fällen dieselbe ist und dennoch das resultierende Verhalten variiert. Darauf aufbauend kann die naturgesetzliche Notwendigkeit erfasst werden, ohne einfach postuliert (ADT), oder gänzlich abgelehnt (Lewis) zu werden.
Another deep-rooted problem for any dispositionalist are the well-known finks and masks. A disposition can be blocked, or taken away, so that an object will not display the manifesting behavior although it was stimulated. This prevents a straightforward reduction of dispositions to simple conditionals of the sort: An object o1 has disposition d, iff it shows manifestation m conditional on stimulus condition s.
The recent literature focuses on counterfactual analysis of dispositions, but there is another well suited candidate: Relevant conditionals from relevance logic. Logic R, for example, can deal with the first problem quite good; a solution for the second is harder to come by, but can still be found.
Es gibt verschiedene Ideen mit diesem Problem umzugehen. Solange das entsprechende Objekt (oder ein anderes derselben Art) noch nicht in der relevanten Testbedingung war, spricht man ihm keinen Wahrheitswert zu. Daneben gibt es Versuche ein stärkeres Konditional wie die materiale Implikation zu verwenden, vornehmlich ein kontrafaktisches Konditional oder zu einer Relevanz-Logik überzugehen. Ich werde diese drei Lösungsstrategien vorstellen und kritisch bewerten, wie gut sie als Wahrmacher für Dispositionszuschreibungen funktionieren. Alternativ könnten Dispositionszuschreibungen direkt von ontischen Eigenschaften (entweder kategorealen, dispositionalen oder neutralen) wahrgemacht werden.
I argue that they would not constitute a feasible account of dispositions, even when the issue would be solved. In return I offer an alternative approach, centered around the notion of fundamental dispositions.