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This book sees that the solution to a number of the problems of contemporary philosophy lies in the development of an alternative to Hume's metaphysics. This alternative would have real causal powers at its centre. This book sets about developing a thorough account of powers that might persuade those who remain, perhaps unknowingly, in the grip of Hume's assumptions. This book shows both that the notion of a power is central and that it could serve to dispel a number of long-standing philosophical problems. This book's account of powers is as realistic as any that has appeared so far, and shows that dispositions are as real as any other properties. Specifically, they do not depend on their manifestations for their existence; nevertheless, they are directed towards such manifestations. The book thus appropriates the notion of intentionality from Brentano and argues that it is the essential characteristic of powers. It offers a persuasive case for the existence of some basic and ungrounded powers, thus ruling out the reducibility of the dispositional to the non-dispositional. However, the book does allow that there are non-power properties as well as power properties. In this respect, the book's final position is dualistic.

I firmly believed there was a world outside of our own minds . . . But all around me were challenges. . . . How could we be so sure there were such things existing apart from us?Philosopher Benedict Chilwell faces a crisis of confidence and hopes to resolve it in a self-imposed exile, far away in the north of Norway. From his cabin, he begins his meditations, pondering the mysteries of philosophy in the dark Arctic winter. Pride, a whale, love and lust, the Huldra, God and a chain of causes all interrupt Benedict's solitude. Could they prove his salvation? In six days approaching the return of the light, Benedict discovers a basis for certainty and tries his best to convince his hosts. Through doubts, questions and reasoning, Chilwell inadvertently follows in Descartes' footsteps. Will he be killed by the cold too; or will the warmth of Plato's sun save him in time?

David (D.M.) Armstrong is one of Australia's greatest philosophers. His chief philosophical achievement has been the development of a core metaphysical program that covers the topics of universals, laws, modality, and facts - a naturalistic metaphysics, consistent with a scientific view of the natural world. Stephen Mumford offers an introduction to the full range of Armstrong's thought. Beginning with a discussion of Armstrong's naturalism - his most general commitment - and his realism about universals, Mumford then examines Armstrong's theories of laws, modality, and dispositions, which are the basics of his core theory. With this in place, Mumford explores Armstrong's ideas on perception, mind, and belief before returning to metaphysics in the final chapters, looking at truth and the new view of instantiation. The book is a dispassionate, fair, and unbiased account of Armstrong's thought which considers the areas of weakness in his work while encouraging further debate.

The first occurrence of an invasive pest species, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in Bulgaria is reported. Different trapping methods (black light trap, traps baited with semiochemical lures, and food attractants) were used to study Noctuidae assemblages in Bulgaria in 2023. Two males of S. frugiperda were caught with sex pheromone traps in maize fields in Knezha, northern Bulgaria, in early November 2023. Additionally, three moths were attracted by black light traps (early November 2023) and one moth by a food lure applied on a tree trunk at the end of October 2023 in the municipalities of Parvomay and Chirpan, southern Bulgaria, respectively. The identification of S. frugiperda was confirmed using morphological and molecular methods.

Do we watch sport for pure dumb entertainment? While some people might do so, Stephen Mumford argues that it can be watched in other ways. Sport can be both a subject of high aesthetic values and a valid source for our moral education. The philosophy of sport has tended to focus on participation, but this book instead examines the philosophical issues around watching sport. Far from being a passive experience, we can all shape the way that we see sport. Delving into parallels with art and theatre, this book outlines the aesthetic qualities of sport from the incidental beauty of a well-executed football pass to the enshrined artistic interpretation in performed sports such as ice-skating and gymnastics. It is argued that the purist literally sees sport in a different way from the partisan, thus the aesthetic perception of the purist can be validated. The book moves on to examine the moral lessons that are to be learned from watching sport, depicting it as a contest of virtues. The morality of sport is demonstrated to be continuous with, rather than separate from, the morality in wider life, and so each can inform the other. Watching sport is then recognized as a focus of profound emotional experiences. Collective emotion is particularly considered alongside the nature of allegiance. Finally, Mumford considers why we care about sport at all. Addressing universal themes, this book will appeal to a broad audience across philosophical disciplines and sports studies.

Mumford outlines a major new theory of natural laws. His book begins with the question of whether there are any genuinely law-like phenomena in nature. The discussion addresses questions currently being debated by metaphysicians such as whether the laws of nature are necessary or contingent and whether a property can be identified independently of its causal role.

David (D. M.) Armstrong is one of Australia's greatest philosophers. His chief philosophical achievement has been the development of a core metaphysical programme, embracing the topics of universals, laws, modality and facts: a naturalistic metaphysics, consistent with a scientific view of the natural world. It is primarily through his owrk that Australian philosophy, and Australian metaphysics in particular, enjoys such a high reputation in the rest of the world. In this book Stephen Mumford offers an introduction to the full range of Armstrong's thought. Mumford begins with a discussion of Armstong's naturalism, his most general commitment, and his realism about universals. He then examines his theories of laws, modality and dispositions, which make up the basics of Armstrong's core theory. With this in place, Mumford explores his ideas on perception, mind and belief before returning to metaphysics in the last two chapters, looking at truth and the new view of instantiation. The book is a dispassionate, fair and unbiased account of Armstrong's thought. Although Armstong's is a body of work that Mumford regards highly and of real significance, he nevertheless highlights areas of weakness and issues about which there is room for further debate.

According to all indications the subatomic particles aresimple. [...]an atom, in the chemical rather than philosophical sense, has component parts such as protons, neutrons and electrons, which are spatially distinct and possible particulars in their own right (whether they are actual particulars or even substances, while being components of a molecular particular, need not be answered at present). Masscan also be dened in terms of the gravitational force it produces. [...]according to Newtons law of gravitation, mg = Fd2/MG,...F is the gravitational force ...Spin The part of the total angular momentum of a particle, atom, nucleus, etc. that is distinct from its orbital angular momentum.Note in these denitions the notions of gives rise to, resistance, force, momentum, which appear to justify the metaphysicians classi- cations of the subject properties. [...]there is the advantage that such powers are modal properties, so we would have an alternative to possible worlds semantics for modal truths which many, in its Lewisian worlds-realist form, have found at best difcult to interpret and at worst incredible and epistemologically opaque.Our intuitions about ungrounded, elementary dispositions are the biggest preventative to the acceptance of the anti-Humeanism view.

Introduction The idea that an account of causation could be gained from an ontology of powers or dispositions is not new (See Cartwright 1989, Bhaskar 1975, Ellis 2001, Molnar 2003) but it could still be claimed mat tbe detailed work Uas yet to be done. Constant conjunction accounts, counterfactual dependence accounts, probability raising accounts, to name but three theories, have been subject to a seemingly endless supply of counterexamples. New varieties of such theories are produced, usuaUy with some ad hoc amendment, but unless the reality of causation is accepted, any new account will suffer die same fate.