The Semantics And Metaphysics Of Natural Kinds

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The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds

Helen Beebee,Nigel Sabbarton-Leary
The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds Book PDF

Author : Helen Beebee,Nigel Sabbarton-Leary
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 509 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2010-05-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781136975769

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The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds by Helen Beebee,Nigel Sabbarton-Leary Pdf

Essentialism--roughly, the view that natural kinds have discrete essences, generating truths that are necessary but knowable only a posteriori--is an increasingly popular view in the metaphysics of science. At the same time, philosophers of language have been subjecting Kripke’s views about the existence and scope of the necessary a posteriori to rigorous analysis and criticism. Essentialists typically appeal to Kripkean semantics to motivate their radical extension of the realm of the necessary a posteriori; but they rarely attempt to provide any semantic arguments for this extension, or engage with the critical work being done by philosophers of language. This collection brings authors on both sides together in one volume, thus helping the reader to see the connections between views in philosophy of language on the one hand and the metaphysics of science on the other. The result is a book that will have a significant impact on the debate about essentialism, encouraging essentialists to engage with debates about the semantic presuppositions that underpin their position, and, encouraging philosophers of language to engage with the metaphysical presuppositions enshrined in Kripkean semantics.

Natural Kinds

Terence Edward Wilkerson
Natural Kinds Book PDF

Author : Terence Edward Wilkerson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : UOM:39015034275142

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Natural Kinds by Terence Edward Wilkerson Pdf

What makes something the kind of thing it is? And do certain objects have a special status in the scheme of things? According to Aristotle, some things (and particularly plants and animals) are what they are in virtue of their intrinsic properties: in more modern terms, they are members of natural kinds and therefore have a special status. Furthermore, it is the job of the natural scientist to discover those intrinsic properties. In this work, the author defends a modern version of Aristotle's view. He carefully analyzes the notion of natural kind, and then uses it to attack a number of connected philosophical problems. He writes about the natural sciences, the social sciences, the nature of scientific laws, the semantics of general names, ontology and metaphysics, and the philosphy of biology.

Carving Nature at Its Joints

Joseph Keim Campbell,Michael O'Rourke,Matthew H. Slater
Carving Nature at Its Joints Book PDF

Author : Joseph Keim Campbell,Michael O'Rourke,Matthew H. Slater
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 367 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2011-10-28
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780262297905

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Carving Nature at Its Joints by Joseph Keim Campbell,Michael O'Rourke,Matthew H. Slater Pdf

Reflections on the metaphysics and epistemology of classification from a distinguished group of philosophers. Contemporary discussions of the success of science often invoke an ancient metaphor from Plato's Phaedrus: successful theories should "carve nature at its joints." But is nature really "jointed"? Are there natural kinds of things around which our theories cut? The essays in this volume offer reflections by a distinguished group of philosophers on a series of intertwined issues in the metaphysics and epistemology of classification. The contributors consider such topics as the relevance of natural kinds in inductive inference; the role of natural kinds in natural laws; the nature of fundamental properties; the naturalness of boundaries; the metaphysics and epistemology of biological kinds; and the relevance of biological kinds to certain questions in ethics. Carving Nature at Its Joints offers both breadth and thematic unity, providing a sampling of state-of-the-art work in contemporary analytic philosophy that will be of interest to a wide audience of scholars and students concerned with classification.

Metaphysics and Science

Stephen Mumford,Matthew Tugby
Metaphysics and Science Book PDF

Author : Stephen Mumford,Matthew Tugby
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2013-06-27
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199674527

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Metaphysics and Science by Stephen Mumford,Matthew Tugby Pdf

This collection brings together the latest new work within an emerging philosophical discipline: the metaphysics of science. A new definition of this line of philosophical enquiry is developed, and leading academics offer original essays on four key topics at the heart of the subject—laws, causation, natural kinds, and emergence.

Meaning Diminished

Kenneth A. Taylor
Meaning Diminished Book PDF

Author : Kenneth A. Taylor
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2019-04-11
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780192525192

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Meaning Diminished by Kenneth A. Taylor Pdf

Meaning Diminished examines the complex relationship between semantic analysis and metaphysical inquiry. Kenneth A. Taylor argues that we should expect linguistic and conceptual analysis of natural language to yield far less metaphysical insight into what there is - and the nature of what there is - than many philosophers have imagined. Taking a strong stand against the so-called linguistic turn in philosophy, Taylor contends that philosophers as diverse as Kant, with his Transcendental Idealism, Frege, with his aspirational Platonism, Carnap with his distinction between internal and external questions, and Strawson, with his descriptive metaphysics, have placed too much confidence in the ability of linguistic and conceptual analysis to achieve deep insight into matters of ultimate metaphysics. He urges philosophers who seek such insight to turn away from the interrogation of language and concepts and back to the more direct interrogation of reality itself. In doing so, he maps out the way forward toward a metaphysically modest semantics, in which semantics carries less weighty metaphysical burdens, and toward a revisionary and naturalistic metaphysics, untethered to the a priori analysis of ordinary language.

Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change

Joseph LaPorte
Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change Book PDF

Author : Joseph LaPorte
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2003-12-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781107320406

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Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change by Joseph LaPorte Pdf

According to the received tradition, the language used to to refer to natural kinds in scientific discourse remains stable even as theories about these kinds are refined. In this illuminating book, Joseph LaPorte argues that scientists do not discover that sentences about natural kinds, like 'Whales are mammals, not fish', are true rather than false. Instead, scientists find that these sentences were vague in the language of earlier speakers and they refine the meanings of the relevant natural-kind terms to make the sentences true. Hence, scientists change the meaning of these terms, This conclusions prompts LaPorte to examine the consequences of this change in meaning for the issue of incommensurability and for the progress of science. This book will appeal to students and professional in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of biology and the philosophy of language.

The Metaphysics of Natural Kinds

Gbenga Fasiku
The Metaphysics of Natural Kinds Book PDF

Author : Gbenga Fasiku
Publisher : LAP Lambert Academic Publishing
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2010-11
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 383836385X

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The Metaphysics of Natural Kinds by Gbenga Fasiku Pdf

How is it possible that things in the world are grouped together to form a 'kind'? Is it by nature or by convention? Do natural kind terms refer to natural kinds naturally or, do they refer to natural kinds depending upon their meanings, concepts, uses, etc? Do properties that define natural kinds do so necessarily or contingently, a priori or a posteriori? Are kind-defining properties human constructions, or are they a part of the fabric of the world, existing independently of human classificatory schemes, to be discovered, discussed and utilized by human beings? Do things exist in kinds, naturally, or are social constructions? These questions summarized the problem of natural kinds in metaphysics. This book provides an expository account of the essentialist arguments that justify the existence of natural kinds. It explores how biological taxonomy could support essentialism, thus opens up a debate in the philosophy of science about the reality of essential theoretical entities through which the existence of kinds in nature could be further established.

Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice

Catherine Kendig
Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice Book PDF

Author : Catherine Kendig
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2015-12-22
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781317215431

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Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice by Catherine Kendig Pdf

This edited volume of 13 new essays aims to turn past discussions of natural kinds on their head. Instead of presenting a metaphysical view of kinds based largely on an unempirical vantage point, it pursues questions of kindedness which take the use of kinds and activities of kinding in practice as significant in the articulation of them as kinds. The book brings philosophical study of current and historical episodes and case studies from various scientific disciplines to bear on natural kinds as traditionally conceived of within metaphysics. Focusing on these practices reveals the different knowledge-producing activities of kinding and processes involved in natural kind use, generation, and discovery. Specialists in their field, the esteemed group of contributors use diverse empirically responsive approaches to explore the nature of kindhood. This groundbreaking volume presents detailed case studies that exemplify kinding in use. Newly written for this volume, each chapter engages with the activities of kinding across a variety of disciplines. Chapter topics include the nature of kinds, kindhood, kinding, and kind-making in linguistics, chemical classification, neuroscience, gene and protein classification, colour theory in applied mathematics, homology in comparative biology, sex and gender identity theory, memory research, race, extended cognition, symbolic algebra, cartography, and geographic information science. The volume seeks to open up an as-yet unexplored area within the emerging field of philosophy of science in practice, and constitutes a valuable addition to the disciplines of philosophy and history of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The Four-Category Ontology

E. J. Lowe,Edward Joseph Lowe
The Four Category Ontology Book PDF

Author : E. J. Lowe,Edward Joseph Lowe
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199254392

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The Four-Category Ontology by E. J. Lowe,Edward Joseph Lowe Pdf

E. J. Lowe sets out and defends his theory of what there is. His four-category ontology is a metaphysical system that recognizes two fundamental categorial distinctions which cut across each other to generate four fundamental ontological categories. The distinctions are between the particular and the universal and between the substantial and the non-substantial. The four categories thus generated are substantial particulars, non-substantial particulars, substantial universals andnon-substantial universals. Non-substantial universals include properties and relations, conceived as universals. Non-substantial particulars include property-instances and relation-instances, otherwise known as non-relational and relational tropes or modes. Substantial particulars include propertiedindividuals, the paradigm examples of which are persisting, concrete objects. Substantial universals are otherwise known as substantial kinds and include as paradigm examples natural kinds of persisting objects.This ontology has a lengthy pedigree, many commentators attributing it to Aristotle on the basis of certain passages in his apparently early work, the Categories. At various times during the history of Western philosophy, it has been revived or rediscovered, but it has never found universal favour, perhaps on account of its apparent lack of parsimony as well as its commitment to universals. In pursuit of ontological economy, metaphysicians have generally preferred to recognize fewerthan four fundamental ontological categories. However, Occam's razor stipulates only that we should not multiply entities beyond necessity; Lowe argues that the four-category ontology has an explanatory power unrivalled by more parsimonious systems, and that this counts decisively in its favour. He shows thatit provides a powerful explanatory framework for a unified account of causation, dispositions, natural laws, natural necessity and many other related matters, such as the semantics of counterfactual conditionals and the character of the truthmaking relation. As such, it constitutes a thoroughgoing metaphysical foundation for natural science.

Scientific Enquiry and Natural Kinds

P. Magnus
Scientific Enquiry and Natural Kinds Book PDF

Author : P. Magnus
Publisher : Springer
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2012-10-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781137271259

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Scientific Enquiry and Natural Kinds by P. Magnus Pdf

Some scientific categories seem to correspond to genuine features of the world and are indispensable for successful science in some domain; in short, they are natural kinds. This book gives a general account of what it is to be a natural kind and puts the account to work illuminating numerous specific examples.

Recent Developments in the Philosophy of Science: EPSA13 Helsinki

Uskali Mäki,Ioannis Votsis,Stéphanie Ruphy,Gerhard Schurz
Recent Developments in the Philosophy of Science EPSA13 Helsinki Book PDF

Author : Uskali Mäki,Ioannis Votsis,Stéphanie Ruphy,Gerhard Schurz
Publisher : Springer
Page : 391 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2015-09-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319230153

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Recent Developments in the Philosophy of Science: EPSA13 Helsinki by Uskali Mäki,Ioannis Votsis,Stéphanie Ruphy,Gerhard Schurz Pdf

This volume showcases the best of recent research in the philosophy of science. A compilation of papers presented at the EPSA 13, it explores a broad distribution of topics such as causation, truthlikeness, scientific representation, gender-specific medicine, laws of nature, science funding and the wisdom of crowds. Papers are organised into headings which form the structure of the book. Readers will find that it covers several major fields within the philosophy of science, from general philosophy of science to the more specific philosophy of physics, philosophy of chemistry, philosophy of the life sciences, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of the social sciences and humanities, amongst others. This volume provides an excellent overview of the state of the art in the philosophy of science, as practiced in different European countries and beyond. ​It will appeal to researchers with an interest in the philosophical underpinnings of their own discipline, and to philosophers who wish to explore the latest work on the themes explored.

Natural Kinds and Genesis

Stewart Umphrey
Natural Kinds and Genesis Book PDF

Author : Stewart Umphrey
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 187 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2016-08-22
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781498531429

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Natural Kinds and Genesis by Stewart Umphrey Pdf

In Natural Kinds and Genesis: The Classification of Material Entities, Stewart Umphrey raises and answers two questions: What is it to be a natural kind? And are there in fact any natural kinds? First, using the everyday understanding of things, he argues that natural kinds may be understood as classes or as types, and that the members or tokens of such kinds are individual continuants. A continuant is essentially a being-in-becoming, a material thing which changes and yet remains the same, in virtue of its nature or essence, as long as it exists. In the primary sense of the term, then, a natural kind is a class whose members closely resemble one another substantially, in virtue of their essences. Alternatively, it is a type whose tokens exemplify it in virtue of their essences. To answer the second question, one must make use of relevant scientific theories as well. Umphrey agrees with scientific essentialists that there are natural kinds, but he argues that most of the chemical, physical, and biological kinds posited in current theories are not natural kinds in the primary sense of the term. The natural-kinds realism he affirms is thus quite restricted: it requires the existence of enduring things which closely resemble one another in virtue of their essences, and such things exist, apparently, only if they have come into being, or emerged, in the course of symmetry-breaking events. Natural Kinds and Genesis will be of interest to philosophers of science and to those interested in the metaphysics of natural kinds and their members.

Kripke : Names, Necessity, and Identity

Christopher Hughes
Kripke Names Necessity and Identity Book PDF

Author : Christopher Hughes
Publisher : Clarendon Press
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2004-01-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0191544000

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Kripke : Names, Necessity, and Identity by Christopher Hughes Pdf

Saul Kripke, in a series of classic writings of the 1960s and 1970s, changed the face of metaphysics and philosophy of language. Christopher Hughes offers a careful exposition and critical analysis of Kripke's central ideas about names, necessity, and identity. He clears up some common misunderstandings of Kripke's views on rigid designation, causality and reference, the necessary and the contingent, the a posteriori and the a priori. Through his engagement with Kripke's ideas Hughes makes a significant contribution to ongoing debates on, inter alia, the semantics of natural kind terms, the nature of natural kinds, the essentiality of origin and constitution, the relative merits of 'identitarian' and counterpart-theoretic accounts of modality, and the identity or otherwise of mental types and tokens with physical types and tokens. No specialist knowledge in either the philosophy of language or metaphysics is presupposed; Hughes's book will be valuable for anyone working on the ideas which Kripke made famous in the philosophy world.

Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

Brent D. Slife,Stephen C. Yanchar,Frank C. Richardson
Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology Book PDF

Author : Brent D. Slife,Stephen C. Yanchar,Frank C. Richardson
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 757 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2021-12-28
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781000521931

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Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology by Brent D. Slife,Stephen C. Yanchar,Frank C. Richardson Pdf

Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology is a compilation of works by leading scholars in theoretical and philosophical psychology that offers critical analyses of, and alternatives to, current theories and philosophies typically taken for granted in mainstream psychology. Within their chapters, the expert authors briefly describe accepted theories and philosophies before explaining their problems and exploring fresh, new ideas for practice and research. These alternative ideas offer thought-provoking ways of reinterpreting many aspects of human existence often studied by psychologists. Organized into five sections, the volume covers the discipline of psychology in general, various subdisciplines (e.g., positive psychology and human development), concepts of self and identity as well as research and practice. Together the chapters present a set of alternative ideas that have the potential to take the field of psychology in fruitful directions not anticipated in more traditional theory and research. This handbook will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of the theory, assumptions, and history of psychology.

Naming and Necessity

Saul A. Kripke
Naming and Necessity Book PDF

Author : Saul A. Kripke
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 1980
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0674598466

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Naming and Necessity by Saul A. Kripke Pdf

If there is such a thing as essential reading in metaphysics or in philosophy of language, this is it. Ever since the publication of its original version, Naming and Necessity has had great and increasing influence. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of reference, in particular of naming, and of identity. From a critique of the dominant tendency to assimilate names to descriptions and more generally to treat their reference as a function of their Fregean sense, surprisingly deep and widespread consequences may be drawn. The largely discredited distinction between accidental and essential properties, both of individual things (including people) and of kinds of things, is revived. So is a consequent view of science as what seeks out the essences of natural kinds. Traditional objections to such views are dealt with by sharpening distinctions between epistemic and metaphysical necessity; in particular by the startling admission of necessary a posteriori truths. From these, in particular from identity statements using rigid designators whether of things or of kinds, further remarkable consequences are drawn for the natures of things, of people, and of kinds; strong objections follow, for example to identity versions of materialism as a theory of the mind. This seminal work, to which today's thriving essentialist metaphysics largely owes its impetus, is here published with a substantial new Preface by the author.