Dispositions and essences (exposé au colloque "Dispositions et pouvoirs causaux",organisé par Max Kistler Paris X-ENS Ulm, septembre 2002); version préliminaire
Abstract
The paper presents the main lines of arguments recently offered by Brian Ellis and Steven Mumford in favor of some versions of dispositional essentialism and tries to evaluate them, especially as far as a dispositionalist account of laws is concerned. Favoring herself some form of dispositional realism (rather than essentialism), the author makes some suggestions about the major difficulties which any kind of dispositionalism should be ready to face.