I—Fundamental Powers, Evolved Powers, and Mental Powers

Abstract

Powers have, in recent years, become a central component of many philosophers’ ontology of properties. While I have argued that powers exist at the fundamental level of properties, many other theorists of powers hold that there are non-fundamental powers also. In this paper I articulate my reasons for being sceptical about the existing reasons for holding that there are non-fundamental powers. However, I also want to promote a different argument for the existence of a certain class of non-fundamental powers: properties whose existence and nature have natural selection to thank. Such properties will include functional properties of organisms and so may include their mental properties also.