ABSTRACT
Realism about properties is requisite for a dispositional realist, for whom the distinction between dispositional and non-dispositional properties is a distinction among real things; it is optional for the dispositional nominalist. This chapter focuses on the debate on the dispositional-non-dispositional distinction and aims to say something on behalf of dispositional nominalism. The distinction between dispositional and non-dispositional properties is most often introduced in linguistic terms. The dispositional realist may suggest that what has gone wrong is that an inappropriate definition of dispositional property has been applied. He might prefer to exploit the 'pointing out' nature of dispositional properties, their relationality. The fixed term in the relational property will presumably be or be intimately connected with the disposition's standard effect. This cannot be thought of as an individual, since a dispositional realist will want things with different individual effects to share dispositional properties.
