Manifestations

Manifestations are events which are effects of dispositions being activated. Events often involve something acquiring a property. According to dispositional monism or pandispositionalism, all properties are dispositions. If all properties were dispositions, then all manifestations would involve something acquiring a disposition. Whether this leads to a vicious regress is unclear. However, pandispositionalism may render nearly all properties unobservable. Another issue about manifestations involves the question of whether dispositions are all single-track or whether some of them are multi-track. Some philosophers argue that each type of disposition has one type of manifestation. However, the events that occur when a disposition manifests vary according to the circumstances. This motivates some philosophers to say that manifestations are not effects but are instead contributions to effects. But it is not clear what kind of entity a contribution is, or if it is needed. Consequently, dispositions are extremely numerous or massively multi-track.