Abstract

Something is good insofar as it achieves its end, so says a neo-Aristotelian view of goodness. Powers/dispositions are paradigm cases of entities that have an end, so say many metaphysicians. A question therefore arises, namely, can one account for neo-Aristotelian goodness in terms of an ontology of powers? This is what I shall begin to explore in this paper. I will first provide a brief explication of both neo-Aristotelian goodness and the metaphysics of powers, before turning to investigate whether one can give an account of neo-Aristotelian goodness in terms of powers. I will suggest that the answer to this question is yes.

Highlights

  • Something is good insofar as it achieves its end, so says a neo-Aristotelian view of goodness

  • I will first provide a brief explication of both neoAristotelian goodness and the metaphysics of powers,3 and turn to investigate whether one can give an account of neo-Aristotelian goodness in terms of powers

  • Whilst it may be disappointing that I’ve been unable to spell out a powers theory of natural goodness in fine detail here, it shouldn’t be surprising, after all this is a very large project

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Summary

Power-ing up neo-aristotelian natural goodness1

Something is good insofar as it achieves its end, so says a neo-Aristotelian view of goodness. A question arises, namely, can one account for neo-Aristotelian goodness in terms of an ontology of powers? I say begin because it will become apparent that there are many issues which I admit require further investigation beyond what I can say here Perhaps this isn’t surprising, since when one tries to answer a big question by bringing together topics from different domains of philosophy that have had very little interaction with one another, there ends up being too many details to be fully addressed in one paper alone. I will first provide a brief explication of both neoAristotelian goodness and the metaphysics of powers, and turn to investigate whether one can give an account of neo-Aristotelian goodness in terms of powers. I will suggest that the answer to this question is yes

Neo-aristotelian goodness
Powers
Powerful tropes and no objects
Powerful objects
Conclusion
Full Text
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