Kitcher's argument against mechanistic individualism in biology shows that privileging causal mechanism over functional role in taxonomy leads to gerrymandered, explanatorily impoverished categories.

?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.

No one has weighed in yet. Be the first to share reasons for or against this statement.

Explanatorily impoverished(describing categories that don't help us understand biology well): Failing to provide a satisfying or complete explanation; leaving out important details that would help you actually understand something.
Gerrymandered(as used in metaphysics): Artificially constructed or grouped together in a way that seems designed to fit a particular purpose rather than reflecting natural categories.
Kitcher(the philosopher being referenced as making a distinction between types of naturalism): Philip Kitcher is a prominent philosopher of science who studies how science works and what makes scientific explanations valuable.
Mechanistic individualism(in biology and philosophy of science): The idea that the best way to understand something is to break it down into its smallest physical parts and describe how those parts physically interact with each other.

Based on where you are in your exploration