The semantics and metaphysics of dispositions

Abstract

The present paper is initially intended to provide an introduction to the literature on the metaphysics and semantics of dispositions in analytic philosophy. To this end, I characterize five semantic approaches to disposition ascriptions (the simple conditional analysis, the modified conditional analyses, the unanalyzable approach, the generic account, and the graded models) and show what kind of metaphysic is consistent with each of them. With this survey on the table, I am inclined to say that the arguments against the simple and modified conditional analyses are sufficiently good to refute these analyses. In addition to that, I put forward several arguments against the generic account and the graded model, arguing that the unanalyzable approach is preferable to its opponents. Finally, given this analyzability and the possibility of unmanifesting dispositions, I side with the kind of dispositionalism suggested by Martin and Heil