Abstract
We have assumed that the world is constituted by things only (Ch. 3). But things change and, as Aristotle saw, if a change occurs then it was possible to begin with (Metaphysics IX, 3). The seed germinates because it has the potentiality to do so. A becomes B only if it is in the nature of A that A can turn into B: this possibility of A ’s is one of its properties. (The converse is false: A may have the capacity to become B but this possibility may not be actualized due to adverse circumstances.)
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© 1977 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Bunge, M. (1977). Possibility. In: Treatise on Basic Philosophy. Treatise on Basic Philosophy, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9924-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9924-0_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-0785-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-9924-0
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