Dispositional Universals

The ontology developed in this article is a version of the bundle theory of universals. These universals are dispositional in nature. To possess a powerful character and to be empirically existent, these universals require a material substratum. This substratum is conceived as physical ether or Plato’s chora, in which universals are like waves in the sea. The world is composed of basic dispositional universals, such as charge, mass, and spin. These basic dispositional universals bundle together to form elementary particles, which in turn compose more complex structures. An object is thus a composition of basic dispositional universals, whose sustained unity is explained by their mutual dispositional manifestations. The assembled whole already exhibits different manifestations than its parts and therefore constitutes a new kind of dispositional universal of a higher order. Hence, a graded hierarchy is present in the structure of dispositional universals. The article defends the view that dispositions are universals rather than tropes, since what we observe in the physical world are identical, numerically repeatable properties, not merely similar particulars. The proposed theory of dispositional universals stands in opposition to Humean conceptions, as the thesis that “whatever is conceivable is metaphysically possible” does not hold. The lawfulness of the world is conditioned by the dispositional nature of universals. Scientific models that aim to explain and predict events should therefore be adapted to this metaphysical framework.