Gregor Damschen - Böcker

In the debate about the moral status of human embryos, it is not always clear which arguments are actually being disputed. This text offers students, researchers and interested laypersons an efficient way to find information about the current state of the discussion and to familiarize themselves quickly with the most important arguments.

Ordinary language and scientific discourse are filled with linguistic expressions for dispositional properties such as “soluble,” “elastic,” “reliable,” and “humorous.” We characterize objects in all domains – physical objects as well as human persons – with the help of dispositional expressions. Hence, the concept of a disposition has historically and systematically played a central role in different areas of philosophy ranging from metaphysics to ethics.The contributions of this volume analyze the ancient foundations of the discussion about disposition, examine the problem of disposition within the context of the foundation of modern science, and analyze this dispute up to the 20th century. Furthermore, articles explore the contemporary theories of dispositions.