Philosophy of Science 76 (5):724-736 (2009)
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| Abstract |
Natural kinds are often contrasted with other kinds of scientific kinds, especially functional kinds, because of a presumed categorical difference in explanatory value: supposedly, natural kinds can ground explanations, while other kinds of kinds cannot. I argue against this view of natural kinds by examining a particular type of explanation—mechanistic explanation—and showing that functional kinds do the same work there as traditionally recognized natural kinds are supposed to do in “standard” scientific explanations. Breaking down this categorical distinction between traditional natural kinds and other kinds of kinds, I argue, delivers two goods: It provides us with a view of natural kindhood that does justice to the epistemic roles of kinds in scientific explanations. And it allows us to solve a problem that HPC theory, currently one of the more popular accounts of natural kindhood, confronts.
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| Reprint years | 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1086/605814 |
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References found in this work BETA
Realism, Anti-Foundationalism and the Enthusiasm for Natural Kinds.Richard Boyd - 1991 - Philosophical Studies 61 (1):127-148.
The Architecture of Complexity.Herbert A. Simon - 1962 - Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 106.
View all 15 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Scientific Kinds.Marc Ereshefsky & Thomas A. C. Reydon - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (4):969-986.
Overlapping Ontologies and Indigenous Knowledge. From Integration to Ontological Self-Determination.David Ludwig - 2016 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 59:36-45.
Recent Work on Human Nature: Beyond Traditional Essences.Maria Kronfeldner, Neil Roughley & Georg Toepfer - 2014 - Philosophy Compass 9 (9):642-652.
View all 20 citations / Add more citations
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