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    The search for a unitary theory of natural kinds applicab... — Carmelics
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    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    The search for a unitary theory of natural kinds applicable across all scientific disciplines is futile

    Philosophy of LanguageTruth & Knowledge
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    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Kuhn's incommensurability thesis entails that taxonomic categories are theory-laden and thus discipline-specific rather than universal.
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    • 2.If kind membership criteria shift across paradigms, no single metaphysical framework can simultaneously satisfy the classificatory norms of chemistry, biology, and psychology.
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    • 3.Attempts to unify kind-talk across disciplines systematically distort the explanatory and predictive roles kinds play within each domain's specific inferential practices.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Dupré's promiscuous realism demonstrates that multiple, cross-cutting classification schemes are simultaneously valid for the same domain, precluding a single privileged taxonomy.
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    • 2.If even within biology legitimate kinds resist unified treatment—as folk, evolutionary, and microbiological categories conflict—cross-disciplinary unification faces insuperable underdetermination.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.There are many different theories of natural kinds in the literature
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    • 2.Some theories of natural kinds apply more readily to certain scientific disciplines than others
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    • 3.Essentialism seems more warranted in chemistry, while Boyd's HPC view seems more applicable in biology
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    Related

    A homogeneous theory of natural kinds that applies in all disciplines looks very...Attempts to unify kind-talk across disciplines systematically distort the explan...Dupré's promiscuous realism demonstrates that multiple, cross-cutting classifica...Essentialism seems more warranted in chemistry, while Boyd's HPC view seems more...
    +5 moreShow less
    If even within biology legitimate kinds resist unified treatment—as folk, evolut...If kind membership criteria shift across paradigms, no single metaphysical frame...Kuhn's incommensurability thesis entails that taxonomic categories are theory-la...Some theories of natural kinds apply more readily to certain scientific discipli...There are many different theories of natural kinds in the literature

    Similar

    A homogeneous theory of natural kinds that applies in all disciplines ...86%Some theories of natural kinds apply more readily to certain scientifi...84%There are many different theories of natural kinds in the literature78%The Nyāya conception of universals requires universals to be both unit...76%

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    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: natural-kinds
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    Recently, there has been a debate about the usefulness of natural kind classification in philosophy of science. Some philosophers have argued that the concept of natural kinds should be eliminated on the grounds that it does not play a useful role in scientific classification. David Ludwig (2018) and Ian Hacking (2007a) have argued for eliminating the concept of natural kind altogether. The arguments here are twofold: firstly, the concept of natural kind is applicable to a heterogeneous set of p
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    Details

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