Dear all, The next meeting of the Serious Metaphysics Group will take place tomorrow, November 18th at 4.30-6pm on Zoom (details below). Barbara Vetter (Freie Universität Berlin) will present a paper entitled 'Essence, Potentiality, and Modality'.
Abstract According to essentialism, metaphysical modality is founded in the essences of things, where the essence of a thing is roughly akin to its real definition. According to potentialism (also known as dispositionalism), metaphysical modality is founded in the potentialities of things, where a potentiality is roughly the generalized notion of a disposition. Essentialism and potentialism have much in common, but little has been written about their relation to each other. The aim of this paper is to understand better the relations between essence and potentiality, on the one hand, and between essentialism and potentialism, on the other. It is argued, first, that essence and potentiality are not duals but interestingly linked by a weaker relation dubbed ‘semi-duality’; second, that given this weaker relation, essentialism and potentialism are not natural allies but rather natural competitors; and third, that the semi-duality of essence and potentiality allows the potentialist to respond to an important explanatory challenge by using essentialist resources without thereby committing to essentialism. Topic: Serious Metaphysics Group Time: Oct 28, 2020 04:30 PM London Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/91992338139?pwd=bFI2R3VJRjh3dHJtTTJJRXhjVmVmQT09 Meeting ID: 919 9233 8139 Passcode: 02947 Best wishes, Wouter _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CamPhilEvents mailing list, or change your membership options, please visit the list information page: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEvents List archive: https://lists.cam.ac.uk/pipermail/phil-events/ Please note that CamPhilEvents doesn't accept email attachments. See the list information page for further details and suggested alternatives.
