Dispositions: Intrinsicness and Agency

Abstract

The core claim of this chapter is that dispositions must be dispositions to act. That is, in Ving something manifests a disposition only if in Ving it did something. This claim is defended and then used to evaluate the thesis that there exist extrinsic dispositions. Many alleged examples of extrinsic dispositions are shown to fail because their success is inconsistent with the core claim. Other examples are consistent with the core claim, but the connection between dispositions and action suggests a defensible fallback version of the Intrinsicness Thesis, according to which something can manifest an extrinsic disposition only by manifesting an intrinsic one.