Dispositional Properties

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THIS BOOK was started and largely finished when I was the student of Professor J. N. Findlay at King's College, the University of London. It was Professor Findlay who first suggested that I should provide an analysis of dispositional properties, and it was he who encouraged me when my ideas began to deviate from the fashionable views on this subject. I hope that the finished manuscript shows the degree to which I have profited from having had a teacher who respects the integrity of his students even while he tries to make constructive but critical philosophers of them. Professor Findlay has recently published an article titled "Metaphysics and Affinity" (The Monist, Vol. XLVII, NO.2, [Winter 1963]) where he outlines the principles of a naturalistic metaphysics and theory of knowledge. I intend that this book should be an example of the sort of analysis which he proposes. In its final statement, my work reflects the influence of numerous conversations with Professor David Rynin. Professor Rynin has helped me to sharpen my understanding of a variety of points, but I am especially grateful to him for having forced me to defend my belief that dispositions should be analyzed in terms of real potentiality, and not by reference to causal laws. Professor George Kimball Plochmann has several times DISPOSITIONAL PROPERTIES had to convince me that earlier drafts of the book were not so good as I had thought they were. He was right in every case, and I am indebted to Professor Plochmann for the care which he has taken in editing the manuscript. William Mallory was kind enough to read an early draft of the book, and many of his suggestions have been incorporated into this final version. There are several people who have helped to sustain me in a variety of nonacademic ways. I hope that they will accept this book with my deepest gratitude. Trespiano, Florence, Italy February 15, 1964 David Weissman DISPOSITIONAL PROPERTIES ...