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    42
    Power is the quality that, when coupled with exertion, ne... — Carmelics
    Home/Causation
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Power is the quality that, when coupled with exertion, necessitates a particular effect.

    Causation
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.It is a contradiction to say that an entity has the power to do something, exerts that power, and yet the effect fails to come about.
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    • 2.If the effect fails to come about when the entity exerts itself, that shows the entity only seemed to have the power, but did not actually have it.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Dispositional properties like fragility or solubility can be real and possessed even when never manifested, as Ryle and later Mumford argue.
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    • 2.A power can exist and be genuinely exerted yet fail to produce its characteristic effect when interfered with by countervailing causal factors.
      ?

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    • 3.Reid's necessitation condition conflates the intrinsic possession of a power with the unimpeded exercise of that power in a favorable environment.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Hume's regularity analysis shows that causal necessity is never observed in singular instances but only inferred from constant conjunction across cases.
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    • 2.If 'necessitation' is built into the definition of power by stipulation, the claim becomes analytically true but empirically vacuous, explaining nothing about causation in nature.
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    Topics

    Causation

    Connections

    1 topic

    Modality & Possibility1 linked

    Related

    A power can exist and be genuinely exerted yet fail to produce its characteristi...Dispositional properties like fragility or solubility can be real and possessed ...Hume's regularity analysis shows that causal necessity is never observed in sing...If 'necessitation' is built into the definition of power by stipulation, the cla...
    +3 moreShow less
    If the effect fails to come about when the entity exerts itself, that shows the ...It is a contradiction to say that an entity has the power to do something, exert...Reid's necessitation condition conflates the intrinsic possession of a power wit...

    Similar

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    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: reid
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    Reid is clear that power is not the sort of thing that admits of a logical definition. We cannot reduce it to some set of simpler qualities. However, this doesn't mean that we can't say anything about what power is. On the contrary, Reid makes a variety of claims about power. Importantly, he claims that power is the quality that, when coupled with exertion, necessitates a particular effect. Taking a cue from ordinary language, he holds that it is a contradiction to say that an entity has the pow
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit