Stephen Mumford

Stephen Mumford
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	dispositions, laws, causation, metaphysics, truth, aesthetics
Notable ideas	dispositions

Stephen Mumford is a philosopher and Professor of metaphysics at the University of Nottingham. Mumford is best known for his work on dispositions and laws, his main work is a monograph on the metaphysics of natural laws entitled "Laws in Nature" and he is often cited for his first major publication "Dispositions".

Biography

Education

• BA - Philosophy and History of Ideas (with Politics) at Huddersfield Polytechnic (now University)
• MA - Philosophy of Mind at University of Leeds
• PhD - Thesis: "Dispositions and Reductionism" (1994) at University of Leeds supervised by Robin LePoidevin

Dispositions and "Dispositions" (1998)

See main article: Dispositions

Commonplace dispositions are the elasticity of a rubber band, the fragility of a wineglass, and the solubility of sugar and salt. Such dispositions are to be found in abundance.

— 

1. 1. px, in Stephen Mumford, "Dispositions" (1998), ##px

"Powers: A Study in Metaphysics" (2003)

Background

See main article: George Molnar (philosopher)

The late philosopher George Molnar (1934-1999) published only four philosophical papers on metaphysics in his career, but his importance in the field should not be underestimated. After a return to the field, following a self-imposed absence, he was working on a book ("Powers") and continued up until his sudden and untimely death in August 1999. The book remained unfinished until Mumford, who had previously had contact with Molnar, in the summer of 1999, with the intention of giving feedback on the work (nearing completion), was approached to edit the remaining manuscript into a completed book. Mumford, along with several other figures in the field of metaphysics, including David Armstrong, were involved collaboratively in providing insight on Molnar's work, and as a person, but the editing was left to Mumford, as was the writing of an introductory chapter to correctly present and establish the material laid out - something which Molnar did not get round to doing before his death. Armstrong states, "We can be very grateful to Stephen Mumford for making a volume from the much that we have. His excellent introduction serves in place of the introductory chapter that was left unwritten". Mumford had discussed Molnar at a conference on Australian metaphysics, held in Grenoble (December 9-13, 1999), but the colloquium - organised by Jean-Maurice Monnoyer, entitled "The Structure of the World: Objects, Properties and States of Affairs" - was to be the first official meeting of Mumford and Molnar as well. Mumford had considered this to be the end of the matter, but, in the spring of 2000, Mumford was contacted again concerning "Powers". This time, however, it was through mutual friend Tony Skillen (lecturer in philosophy at the University of Kent) on behalf of Molnar's former partner Carlotta McIntosh, who had given access to the manuscript and who shared it with Mumford. Although the book was, in places, complete and filled with promise, there was much work to be done on the later chapters - Mumford reflects on a conversation between himself and Armstrong on the way to the Grenoble colloquium, mentioning Molnar's email stating the work was near finished, Armstrong replied: "it was near finished, in his mind". The main theory of powers survives, and with Mumford's help and editorial contribution is readily accessible.

Metaphysics of Science

Professor Mumford is project leader for the University of Nottingham in the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council) funded three-year research project: the metaphysics of science. Mumford works alongside Alexander Bird (Bristol) and Helen Beebee (Birmingham) within this project with their joint focus on "causes, laws, kinds, and dispositions". The project is described with the following abstract: "We naturally think that what happens in the universe is governed by laws of nature. We also think that events are causally related to other events, that things are naturally classified into kinds (physical, chemical and biological kinds, for example), and that at least some natural kinds have distinctive dispositions (for example, the disposition of NaCl to dissolve in water). This project explores how, or whether, all these distinct notions - law, cause, natural kind, disposition - can be made to fit together into a coherent and unified worldview. For example, must two causally related events be such that they are members of kinds that are lawfully related? Must those kinds be natural kinds? Are natural kinds distinguished from one another by the fact that members of different kinds are disposed to behave in different ways?".

Bibliography

Books

• David Armstrong. Chesham: Acumen. 2007. pp. 240 pp. ISBN 1844651002.
• Laws in Nature. London: Routledge. 2004. pp. xvi + 230 pp. ISBN 0-415-31128-4.
• Powers: A Study in Metaphysics - George Molnar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. xiv + 238 pp. ISBN 0-19-925978-X.
  • Edited with an Introduction by Stephen Mumford; Foreword by David Armstrong
• Russell on Metaphysics (ed. Stephen Mumford). London: Routledge. 2003. pp. viii + 256 pp. ISBN 0415-277450.
  • Edited with Introductions by Stephen Mumford; Russell on... series edited by A.C. Grayling
• Dispositions. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1998. pp. xii + 249 pp. ISBN 0-19-823611-5.
• Dispositions and Reductionism. University of Leeds (PhD Thesis) as Stephen Dean Mumford. 1994. pp. vii + 220 pp. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  • ...a critical examination of reductive accounts of the meaning and ontology of dispositional discourse
  • Available for consultation at the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds.
  • Constituent parts published separately include:
    • "Dispositions, Supervenience and Reduction" (1994).
    • "Dispositions, Bases, Overdetermination and Identities" (1995).

Selected Articles

• "Negative Truth and Falsehood" (November 2006) — Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (forthcoming in print, available online via Blackwell-Synergy)
• "The Ungrounded Argument" (April 2006) — Synthese., vol. 149, no. 3: 471-489
• "Function, Structure, Capacity" (March 2006) — Studies In History and Philosophy of Science Part A., vol. 37, iss. 1: 76-80
• "Kinds, Essences, Powers" (December 2005) — Ratio., vol. 18, iss. 4: 420-436
• "The True and the False" (June 2005) — Australasian Journal of Philosophy., vol. 83, no.2: 263-269
• "Laws and Lawlessness" (April 2005) — Synthese., vol. 144, no. 3: 397-413
• "Realism and the Conditional Analysis of Dispositions: Reply to Malzkorn" (July 2001) — The Philosophical Quarterly., vol. 51, no. 204: 375-378
  • Wolfgang Malzkorn: "Realism, Functionalism and the Conditional Analysis of Dispositions" (October 2000) — The Philosophical Quarterly., vol. 50, no. 201: 452-469
• "Miracles: Metaphysics and Modality" (June 2001) — Religious Studies., vol. 37, no.2: 191-202
  • Steve Clarke: "Response to Mumford and another definition of miracles" (December 2003) — Religious Studies., vol. 39, no. 4: 459-463
  • Morgan Luck: "In defence of Mumford's definition of a miracle" (December 2003) — Religious Studies., vol. 39, no. 4: 465-469
  • Steve Clarke: "Luck and miracles" (December 2003) — Religious Studies., vol. 39, no. 4: 471-474
• "Normative and Natural Laws" (April 2000) — Philosophy., vol. 75, no. 292: 265-282
• "Intentionality and the Physical: A New Theory of Disposition Ascription" (April 1999) — The Philosophical Quarterly., vol. 49, no. 125: 215-225
  • Ullin T. Place: "Intentionality and the Physical: A Reply to Mumford" (April 1999) — The Philosophical Quarterly., vol. 49, no. 125: 225-231
• "Laws of Nature Outlawed" (June 1998) — dialectica., vol. 52, no. 2: 83-101
• "Conditionals, Functional Essences and Martin on Dispositions" (January 1996) — The Philosophical Quarterly., vol. 46, no. 182: 86-92
• "Ellis and Lierse on Dispositional Essentialism" (December 1995) — Australasian Journal of Philosophy., vol. 73, no.4: 606-612
• "Dispositions, Bases, Overdetermination and Identities" (April 1995) — Ratio., vol. 8, iss. 1: 42-62
• "Dispositions, Supervenience and Reduction" (October 1994) — The Philosophical Quarterly., vol. 44, no. 177: 419-438
• "Dispositions" (Summer 1994) — Cogito., vol. 8: 141-146
• "A Puzzle About Causation" (Autumn 1993) — Philosophy Now., vol. 7: 23-30

See also

External links

• Dispositions (Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Dispositions (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Laws of Nature (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Laws of Nature (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Natural Laws (Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Metaphysics of Science: Homepage

Responses and Discussion

• "Critical Notice of Stephen Mumford's Dispositions" - Dan Ryder
• "Dispositions and Essences" - Claudine Tiercelin
• "Stephen Mumford's Laws in Nature" - Stathis Psillos

Reviews

• "Dispositions" (May 2000) - Wolfgang Malzkorn — Erkenntnis., vol. 52, no. 3: 413-418
• "Dispositions" (January 2001) - D.M. Armstrong — Philosophy and Phenomenological Research., vol. 62, no. 1: 246-248
• "Dispositions" (January 2001) - Thomas Bittner — Philosophical Books., vol. 42, no. 1: 61-65
• "Dispositions" (January 2001) - John W. Carroll — The Philosophical Review., vol. 110, no. 1: 82-84
• "Dispositions" (January 2001) - Rainer Noske — Journal for the General Philosophy of Science., vol. 32. no. 1: 193-197
• "Dispositions" (March 2001) - Alexander Bird — British Journal for the Philosophy of Science., vol. 52, no. 1: 137-149
• "Dispositions" (March 2005) - John Hawthorne; David Manley — Noûs., vol. 39, no. 1: 179-195
• "Laws in Nature" (June 2006) - Simon Bostock — British Journal for the Philosophy of Science., vol. 57, no. 2: 449-453