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    The theoretical identity 'gold is the element with atomic... — Carmelics
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    Supports→Descriptivism about natural kind terms is false.

    The theoretical identity 'gold is the element with atomic number 79' is discovered empirically yet holds necessarily, a combination that descriptivism cannot explain without collapsing the a priori/a posteriori distinction.

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    Key Terms

    a posteriori(Used to classify the epistemic status of necessary statements post-Kripke)
    Knowable, but not independently of empirical experience
    a priori(Frege treats 'analytic' as entailing 'a priori' for arithmetic.)
    Knowable independently of empirical experience; here treated as a consequence of analyticity.
    a priori/a posteriori distinction(the key division being challenged in the statement)
    The common philosophical separation between knowledge that comes from pure reasoning versus knowledge that comes from real-world experience.
    atomic number(as used in chemistry and the example)
    The number that identifies an element based on how many protons are in each atom of that element; for gold (element 79), it's always 79.
    descriptivism

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    (Contrasted with 'revisionism' in art ontological discussions; cf. Dodd 2012)
    A position in art ontology that grounds ontological claims in actual artistic and art-critical practices.
    discovered empirically(as used in epistemology)
    Found out through real-world observation and experiments rather than just thinking about it logically.
    holds necessarily(as used in metaphysics and modal logic)
    Is always true in all possible situations; it couldn't be otherwise, unlike facts that could have turned out differently.
    theoretical identity(Kripkean essentialism; examples include 'water is H2O' and 'gold is the element with atomic number 79')
    An identity of the form C = T, where C is a common name for a kind and T is a technical identification of that kind, expressing what that kind fundamentally is

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    Philosophy of Language1 linked

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    Descriptivism about natural kind terms is false.

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