ABSTRACT
An ontology of powers—essentially dispositional natural properties—has become popular, and consequently philosophers have sought to apply this ontology to a number of problems and areas outside fundamental metaphysics, such as those concerning causation, intentionality, and free will. This chapter introduces the key concepts and distinguishes between "fundamental" and "non-fundamental" metaphysics. It discusses merits of powers ontology belongs to fundamental metaphysics, whereas dispositional accounts of such-and-such typically belong to non-fundamental metaphysics. Powers are properties with a certain kind of essence—an essence that can be characterised in dispositional terms. Powers are the principal elements of the world that are responsible for the existence of laws of nature and causation. The chapter also discusses the analysis of everyday causal statement as one area where it has been supposed that the ontology of powers may be put to work in solving problems in philosophy outside of fundamental metaphysics.
