Marcus on Becoming Whole
Michael Griffin, Assistant Professor in Philosophy at University of British Columbia, gives a talk as part of the series "Marcus Aurelius: Philosophical, Historical, and Literary Perspectives".
Aug 23, 2013•1 hr 3 min
Power Structuralism in Ancient Ontologies
Exploring various aspects of modern and ancient metaphysics as they relate to the hypothesis that powers (or dispositions) are the sole elementary building block in ontology.
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Episodes
Religious Debate and Religious Competition in the Age of Marcus Aurelius
Mark Edwards, Christ Church College, Oxford, discusses religion in the age of Marcus Aurelius as part of the series "Marcus Aurelius: Philosophical, Historical, and Literary Perspectives".
Aug 23, 2013•52 min
Marcus Aurelius' Meditations - Is there a Core Project?
Professor Christopher Gill, University of Exeter, meditates on Marcus Aurelius as part of the series, "Marcus Aurelius: Philosophical, Historical, and Literary Perspectives".
Aug 23, 2013•54 min
Empedocles' Dynamic, Changeless World
In this talk Anna Marmodoro, Corpus Christi, Oxford, explore the view that Empedocles' world is both dynamic and changeless, and investigate the metaphysical account that Empedocles gives for such a world.
Aug 23, 2013•47 min
Powers in the cosmic cycle
A talk given by Professor Oliver Primavesi, Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat, from the series on Empedocles' Metaphysics.
Aug 23, 2013•42 min
Empedoclean Superorganisms
A talk about Empedoclean Superorganisms from Professor David Sedley, Christ's College, Cambridge, from the series on Empedocles' Metaphysics.
Aug 23, 2013•38 min
Which Things have Divine Names in Empedocles and Why?
A talk from Professor Catherine Rowett, University of East Anglia, from a series on Empedocles' Metaphysics.
Aug 23, 2013•58 min
Elemental Change in Empedocles
John shows how recognising that the Empedoclean roots - fire, water, earth, and air - are subject to forms of generation and destruction consistent with his rejection into nothing. This makes for improved understanding of the difficult verses at Physika 1.234-6 (31B17.3-5 D-K), the block of text in which they occur, and Empedocles' element theory more generally.
Aug 23, 2013•1 hr
Thinking Structure
Patricia Curd takes the problem of structure to cover both of these questions: (1) How is it that the cosmos is an organized system of diverse entities? (2) Why does this system maintain regularity over long periods of time?
Aug 23, 2013•57 min
The Metaphysics of Rovelli's Relational Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Mauro Dorato (University of Rome) gives a talk for the Metaphysics of Relations Conference, held on 3rd-5th October 2012 in University of London.
Dec 12, 2012•40 min
Causal Relations
John Heil (Washington University in St. Louis) gives a talk for the Metaphysics of Relations Conference, held on 3rd-5th October 2012 in University of London. On the received view of causation, causal relations are a distinctive species of external relation. This paper explores the implications of adopting a conception of causation according to which causal relations are understood as manifestings of reciprocal powers. On such a conception, causation would most naturally be seen as a kind of int...
Dec 12, 2012•36 min
External Relations, Causal Coincidence and Contingency
Peter Simons (Trinity College Dublin) gives a talk for the Metaphysics of Relations Conference, held on 3rd-5th October 2012 in University of London. Many contingent facts concern objects standing in relationships by accident, prominent among these being spatiotemporal relationships, often taken as the paradigm of externality in relations. Yet the ontological basis for these facts is elusive. Closer ontological scrutiny reveals an underlying tissue of internal relationships leaving only modest s...
Dec 12, 2012•42 min
Relations All The Way Down?
Stephen Mumford (Nottingham University) gives a talk for the Metaphysics of Relations Conference, held on 3rd-5th October 2012 in University of London. Co-written by Sebastian Briceno.
Dec 12, 2012•52 min
Positionalism Revisited
Maureen Donnelly (SUNY at Buffalo) gives a talk for the Metaphysics of Relations Conference, held on 3rd-5th October 2012 in University of London. In some relational claims- e.g., 'Abelard loves Eloise'-the order of the individual terms determines what relational fact is posited in the claim. In other relational claims- 'Abelard is next to Eloise' the order of the terms seems irrelevant to the underlying relational fact. Whereas there seems to be only one possible fact involving Abelard and Eloi...
Dec 12, 2012•1 hr 4 min
There Are (Probably) No Relations
Jonathan Lowe (University of Durham) gives a talk for the Metaphysics of Relations Conference, held on 3rd-5th October 2012 in University of London.
Dec 12, 2012•53 min
Galen and the Ontology of Powers
Jim Hankinson (University of Texas at Austin) gives a talk for the Causing Health and Disease: Medical Powers in Classical and Late Antiquit conference, held at Corpus Christi College on 21st-22 September 2012. The notion of a power, a dunamis, does a great deal of work in Galen. He believes that the basic functioning of the body is realized through four principal powers, of attraction, adhesion, alteration and excretion, although these come in a variety of different forms. These in turn are out...
Dec 12, 2012•1 hr 4 min
Immanent Intelligence and the Natural Faculties in Galen
Brooke Holmes (Princeton University) gives a talk for the Causing Health and Disease: Medical Powers in Classical and Late Antiquit conference, held at Corpus Christi College on 21st-22 September 2012. One of Galen's basic philosophical commitments is to the Platonic idea of the Demiurge. No other explanation of the intelligent organization of living beings, he argues, is remotely plausible. But how is the rational design of the Demiurge actually realized in matter, not just at the moment of cre...
Dec 12, 2012•54 min
On Weakness/Strength and Sickness/Health in Ancient Daoist Philosophy
Hans-Georg Moeller (University College Cork), gives a talk for the Causing Health and Disease: Medical Powers in Classical and Late Antiquit conference, held at Corpus Christi College on 21st-22 September 2012. This paper explores the semantically ambiguous distinctions health/sickness and strength/weakness in ancient Daoist texts. He introduces and discusses several images in the Daodejing (Laozi) and allegories in the Zhuangzi which illustrate the often paradoxical reversals of these qualities...
Dec 12, 2012•40 min
Causing Health and Disease: Medical Powers in Classical and Late Antiquity
Philip van der Ejik gives a talk for the Causing Health and Disease: Medical Powers in Classical and Late Antiquit conference, held at Corpus Christi College on 21st-22 September 2012. Greek medicine was, from the very beginnings, preoccupied with causal explanation and with theoretical reflection on causation as such. One area where the quest for causes and the question of causal efficacy was particularly pressing was that of the dunameis of substances, i.e. the powers of foods, drinks, drugs a...
Dec 12, 2012•52 min
A Determinable-based Account of Metaphysical Indeterminacy
Jessica Wilson (University of Toronto) gives a talk for the Metaphysics of Relations Conference, held at Senate House, University of London on 3rd-5th October 2012.
Dec 12, 2012•48 min
A Platonic Theory of Truthmaking
Berman (St Louis Univ.) lays out and defends a platonic explanation of non-modal and modal truths using Forms as their truthmakers. He argues that this platonic theory is parsimonious, naturalistic, and ontologically serious.
Mar 06, 2012•47 min
Objective and Subjective Powers and Dispositions
Kistler (Sorbonne) introduces a distinction between powers and dispositions: A 'multi-track disposition' manifests itself in different ways Mi in different triggering circumstances Ti.
Mar 06, 2012•56 min
Limitations of Power
Bird (Bristol) warns against overextending the case for a powers ontology, arguing that it cannot answer typical questions outside fundamental metaphysics, for example concerning the analysis of causal statements.
Feb 15, 2012•59 min
Mutual Manifestations and Martin's Two Triangles
Mumford (Nottingham) argues that although superior to a stimulus-response model, Martin's mutual manifestation model must be amended to resemble less mereological composition and more causation.
Feb 15, 2012•49 min
Identity, Individuality and Discernibility
Ladyman (Bristol) explains the recent debates about the Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles and results about weak discernibility. He considers their implications for structuralism and the light they shed on ontological dependence.
Feb 15, 2012•1 hr 1 min
Relational vs. Constituent Ontologies
Van Inwagen (Notre Dame) argues that relational ontologies (denying properties can be constituents of particulars) are preferable to constituent ontologies (holding properties are constituents of the particulars that have them).
Feb 15, 2012•49 min
Is causation a relation?
Jacobs (St. Louis Univ.) explores the view that between a substance and its power, on one hand, and the result of the substance manifesting its power, there is no relation at all. Thus, causal, relational truths have non-relational ontological grounds.
Feb 15, 2012•1 hr 8 min
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