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    Natural kinds as a concept should be eliminated altogether — Carmelics
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    Home/Modality & Possibility
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    Natural kinds as a concept should be eliminated altogether

    Modality & PossibilityTruth & Knowledge
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Classification in the special sciences reveals diverse practices
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    • 2.No single concept of natural kind fits all classification practices
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Scientific explanations of inductive projectibility and causal laws systematically depend on kind membership, as Quine and Boyd independently argued.
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    • 2.Eliminating natural kinds removes the theoretical basis for distinguishing lawlike generalizations from accidental regularities.
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    • 3.A concept indispensable to the normative structure of scientific inference cannot be eliminated without replacing its explanatory function.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The diversity of classification practices across sciences entails pluralism about natural kinds, not eliminativism, as Dupré's promiscuous realism demonstrates.
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    • 2.An argument that no single concept fits all practices conflates the failure of monism with the failure of the broader ontological category itself.
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    Related

    A concept indispensable to the normative structure of scientific inference canno...An argument that no single concept fits all practices conflates the failure of m...Classification in the special sciences reveals diverse practicesEliminating natural kinds removes the theoretical basis for distinguishing lawli...
    +3 moreShow less
    No single concept of natural kind fits all classification practicesScientific explanations of inductive projectibility and causal laws systematical...The diversity of classification practices across sciences entails pluralism abou...

    Similar

    The concept of natural kind should be eliminated from scientific class...79%Natural kinds should be understood as kinds that support induction and...77%Natural kinds must be categorically distinct from one another.76%Natural kinds should be understood as kinds that support induction and...76%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: natural-kinds
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    Many of these considerations from the practice of classification in the special sciences have led to an emerging naturalist approach to the topic of natural kinds. It is clear from the examination of classification in the special sciences, that it is difficult to find a concept of natural kind that fits all of the different practices of classification. This has sometimes been used as a core argument in favour of pluralism about natural kinds (Dupré 2001) or to eliminate the need for natural kind
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit