One idea worth exploring is that of grounding these unactualized possibilities in the
dispositions of actual items in the world. Various examples Necessitarians have cited in
advancing their theory (see, e.g., Pap 1962, pp. 273–306, and Madden 1969) have suggested that
there is an intimate connection between nomicity, warrant for counterfactuals, and dispositions1
of things in the world. For example, a standard warrant for the counterfactual conditional “This
undissolved lump of salt would dissolve if placed in water” is that this tacit physical possibility
arises from salt’s disposition to dissolve when placed in water. Suppose we were to extend the
state-description model (see Chapter 7) by allowing the singular statements that comprise a statedescription
to include reference to dispositional properties (e.g., is soluble) as well as to manifest
ones (e.g., has dissolved).2 Could the unactualized physical possibilities of the Necessitarian be
grounded in such an augmented factual base?