Rögnvaldur Ingthorsson

Properties: Qualities, Powers, or Both?

Powers are popularly assumed to be distinct from, and dependent upon, inert qualities, mainly because it is believed that qualities have their nature independently of other properties while powers have their nature in virtue of a relation to distinct manifestation property. George Molnar and Alexander Bird, on the other hand, characterise powers as intrinsic and relational. The difficulties of reconciling the characteristics of being intrinsic and at the same time essentially related are illustrated in this paper and it is argued that the reasons for thinking of powers as essentially relational are based on misguided epistemological consideration. Finally, I present a way of thinking of fundamental properties as primitive natures that we can only understand in virtue of what they do but which we should not think of as being ontologically constituted by these doings. According to this view, properties are both qualities and powers. (Less)

Johanssonian Investigations : Essays in Honour of Ingvar Johansson on His Seventieth Birthday

During the last decades, Ingvar Johansson has made a formidable contribution to the development of philosophy in general and perhaps especially to the development of metaphysics. This volume consists of original papers written by 50 philosophers from all over the world in honour of Ingvar Johansson to celebrate his 70th birthday. The papers cover traditional issues in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, applied ethics and applied metaphysics, the nature of human rights, the philosophy of economics and sports. Some of the papers study the philosophy of Ingvar Johansson.All of them studies subjects which he has shown an interest in. The variety of subjects covered, testifies to the extraordinary wide range of issues his thought has had a bearing on. (Less)

Is Competitive Elite Sport Really Morally Corrupt

Abstract It has been argued that competitive elite sport both a) reduces the humanity of athletes by turning them into beings whose sole value is determined in relation to others, and b) is motivated by a celebration of the genetically superior and humiliation of the weak. This paper argues that while a) is a morally reproachable attitude to competition, it is not what competitive elite sport revolves around, and that b) simply is not the essence of competitive elite sport. Competitive elite sport is an exploration of the physical and mental demands of sport. Finally, the paper explores a number of consequences of the different views of sport with respect to the problem of intersexual women.

McTaggart's Paradox

McTaggarts argument for tidens overklighet, forst publicerat 1908, satte agendan for 1900-talets tidsfilosofi. Anda rader stor oenighet om vad argumentet egentligen sager. Ingen haller med om slutsatsen, och anda finner manga nagot intressant och viktigt i det. Den har boken presenterar den forsta kritiska oversikten over forra arhundradets debatt om det som har kommit att kallas McTaggarts paradox. Forskare har lange antagit att argumentet ar oberoende av McTaggart’s eget metafysiska system, och av andra kontroversiella ontologiska grundsatser. Forfattaren visar att sa inte ar fallet. McTaggart sjalv havdade att det var beroende av grundsatserna av hans eget system. Det faktum att forskare har tolkat argumentet som ett oberoende argument, och darfor funnit det ofullstandigt, har lett till att de tolkar det utifran sina egna grundsatser och darfor har forskare som utgatt ifran olika grundsatser kommit till olika tolkiningar. Den har boken erbjuder en alternative tolkning av argumentet, som samtidigt forklarar varfor andra uttolkare kommit fram til var sin oforenlig tolkning. Den innehaller ocksa discussion av implikationerna av denna tolkning for den kontemporara tidsfilosofiska debatten mellan A och B uppfattningen av tiden. Ar B uppfattningen verkligen forenlig med endurerande ting och darmed med standarduppfattningen av forandring? Ar A uppfattningen verkligen motsagelsefull. Forfattaren svarar att B uppfattningen inte ar forenlig med endurerande ting, och att endast sa kallade A-B hybrider behover oroa sig for motsagelser. Vad tempus egentligen ar forblir oforklarad aven om McTaggart’s paradox inte langre ar ett hot. Den har boken borde vara av intresse for studenter och forskare med ett intresse for tidsfilosofi samt naraliggande metafysiska amnen. (Less)