Nature's Metaphysics Laws and Properties [Paperback]

Nature's Metaphysicsargues 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.

1. Introduction - laws and properties
2. Dispositions
3. Dispositional essentialism and the laws of nature
4. Categoricalism
5. Dispositional essentialism, modality, and intentionality
6. The regress objection
7. Structural properties
8. The illusion of nomic contingency
9. Are there any laws, and if so what are they?
10. Concluding remarks
References

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 LiterarySupplement

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 Metaphysicsis 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

Alexander Birdis Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol.