Collective Powers

Guo, Xi-Yang; Tugby, Matthew

Abstract

It is natural to think there are higher-level powers, such as a screen’s powers to display various images, and lower-level powers such as each pixel’s powers to display various colours. Moreover, it is natural to think that higher-level powers depend in some way on lower-level powers. However, this appealing picture creates some philosophical puzzles. What are the bearers of higher-level powers? The obvious answer is that higher-level powers are instantiated by composite substances, but this answer creates difficulties. Some have also complained that higher-level powers create a causal exclusion problem. This chapter offers a new way to respond to these puzzles in a way that preserves ontological commitment to higher-level powers. The novel proposal of the theory is that higher-level powers are collective properties which are plurally instantiated by simple substances. The chapter also develops the idea that higher-level powers are grounded by the low-level powers of substances.

Citation

Guo, X., & Tugby, M. (2023). Collective Powers. In C. J. Austin, A. Marmodoro, & A. Roselli (Eds.), Powers, Parts and Wholes: Essays on the Mereology of Powers (142-166). New York and Abingdon: Oxon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003298830-11

• Online Publication Date: Aug 25, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Sep 4, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 26, 2025
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 142-166
• Series Title: Routledge Studies in Metaphysics
• Edition: 1st
• Book Title: Powers, Parts and Wholes: Essays on the Mereology of Powers
• Chapter Number: 8
• ISBN: 9781032288567
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003298830-11
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1729083
• Contract Date: Jul 7, 2023