Natural Kinds

This Element surveys philosophical accounts of natural kinds and defends a naturalist alternative to case studies from diverse sciences.

Muhammad Ali Khalidi (Author)

9781009005067, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2023

75 pages
27 x 18 x 0.7 cm, 0.15 kg

Scientists cannot devise theories, construct models, propose explanations, make predictions, or even carry out observations, without first classifying their subject matter. The goal of scientific taxonomy is to come up with classification schemes that conform to nature's own. Another way of putting this is that science aims to devise categories that correspond to 'natural kinds.' The interest in ascertaining the real kinds of things in nature is as old as philosophy itself, but it takes on a different guise when one adopts a naturalist stance in philosophy, that is when one looks closely at scientific practice and takes it as a guide for identifying natural kinds and investigating their general features. This Element surveys existing philosophical accounts of natural kinds, defends a naturalist alternative, and applies it to case studies in a diverse set of sciences. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

1. The metaphysics of kinds
2. Theories of natural kinds
3. Kinds of kinds
4. Applications: kinds across the sciences
References.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of science [PDA]