potentialities

Potentialities denote the capacities or possibilities inherent in something that could be realized under suitable conditions. They describe a range of states or outcomes that may come to be, distinct from the current actual state. In philosophy and logic, potentiality is contrasted with actuality; potentialities can be described as dispositions, powers, or possibilities that may be actualized.

Historically, Aristotle distinguished potentiality (dynamis) from actuality (energeia). A seed’s potential to become a tree exists even when not yet actualized; the growth process is the transition from potentiality to actuality. Medieval scholastics developed the idea into powers or dispositions, and in modern discussions modal logic formalizes potentialities through notions of possibility and necessity, including possible worlds as a way to model what could be.

In science and everyday language, potentialities appear in various guises. Biological potentialities refer to an organism’s capacity to develop certain traits or respond to environments. In physics, potential energy expresses the potential for work based on position or configuration, and potential fields describe regions where forces could do work. In linguistics and philosophy of language, potentiality is a modality indicating capability or possibility, as in sentences that express what someone could do under certain conditions.

The plural potentialities is used to describe multiple possible outcomes or futures. Debates about potentialities intersect with questions of determinism, chance, and how constraints—such as laws, initial conditions, and resources—shape which possibilities become actual.