Powers by Julia Jorati - 9780190925529

PowersA History\nAuthor(s): Julia Jorati\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Oxford University Press Inc, United States\nImprint: Oxford University Press Inc\nISBN-13: 9780190925529, 978-0190925529\nSynopsis\nWhy does a wine glass break when you drop it, whereas a steel goblet does not? The answer may seem obvious: glass, unlike steel, is fragile. This is an explanation in terms of a power or disposition: the glass breaks because it possesses a particular power, namely fragility. Seemingly simple, such intrinsic dispositions or powers have fascinated philosophers for centuries. A power's central task is explaining why a thing changes in the ways that it does, rather than in other ways: powers should explain why an acorn turns into an oak tree, not a sunflower, or why fire burns wood, and wood can catch fire. \n\nThis volume examines the twists and turns of the fascinating history of a difficult philosophical concept, focusing on the metaphysical sense of \""powers\""--that is, the powers th.