Carving nature at its joints : natural kinds in metaphysics and science / edited by Joseph Keim Campbell, Michael O'Rourke, and Matthew H. Slater.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Campbell, Joseph Keim, 1958- editor.

O'Rourke, Michael, 1963- editor.

Slater, Matthew H., 1977- editor.

Series:

Topics in Contemporary Philosophy

Topics in 8contemporary philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Naturalism.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Philosophy of nature.

Metaphysics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (367 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2011]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"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."--MIT CogNet.

Contents:

Contents; Foreword; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1. Introduction : Lessons from the Scientific Butchery; 1 Carving Nature at Its Joints; 2 Natural Kinds and Inductive Inference; 3 The Question of Essentialism; 4 Applications; 5 The Essays; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; Chapter 2. Induction, Samples, and Kinds; 1 Introduction; 2 Goodman's Problem and Naturalness Constraints; 3 A Second Form of Inference; 4 A Nominalist Challenge; 5 A Discussion of Cases; 6 Conclusion; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; Chapter 3. It Takes More Than All Kinds to Make a World; 1 Introduction

2 Distinguishing the Laws by Their Stability3 Natural Necessity; 4 The Laws Form a System; 5 How Some Laws Can Transcend Others; 6 Natural Properties; Notes; References; Chapter 4. Lange and Laws, Kinds, and Counterfactuals; 1 Lange on Laws; 2 Lange on Kinds; 3 Conclusion; Notes; Chapter 5. Are Fundamental Laws Necessary or Contingent?; I; II; III; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; Chapter 6. Para-Natural Kinds; Extending Plato's Metaphor; Contrast with Artifacts; Nomic Legacies; Natural Kind or Para-Natural Kind?; Kripke Tests; Putnam Tests; Back-up Strategy

Second Order Para-Natural KindsHistorical Controversy; Some Parting Imagery; Summary of Three Theses; Acknowledgments; References; Chapter 7. Boundaries, Conventions, and Realism; 1 Natural vs. Artificial Boundaries; 2 Boundaries and Things; 3 From Boundaries to Things; 4 Conventionalism and Realism; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; Chapter 8. Natural Kinds and Biological Realisms; 1 Introduction; 2 Species Concepts; 3 Species Pluralism; 4 Realism in General; 5 Ereshefsky versus Kitcher; 6 The Higher Categories; 7 Conclusions; Notes; References

Chapter 9. Three Ways of Resisting Essentialism about Natural Kinds1 Essentialism about Natural Kinds; 2 Questioning the First Tenet: All and Only the Members of a Kind Have a Common Essence; 3 Questioning the First Tenet of Kind-Essentialism in the Biological Domain; 4 Questioning the Second Tenet: Causal Responsibility; 5 Questioning the Third Tenet: Explanatory Relevance; 6 Questioning the Third Tenet of Kind-Essentialism in the Biological Domain; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; Chapter 10. Arthritis and Nature's Joints; 1 Disease Kinds and Essences

2 Why Treat Disease Kinds as Natural Kinds?3 Two Approaches to Natural Kinds; 4 What Is a Disease?; 5 Natural Disease Kinds; 6 Conclusion; Notes; References; Chapter 11. Predicting Populations by Modeling Individuals; 1 Introduction; 2 The Scientists' Problem, and Two Strategies for Solving It; 3 Why One-Off Models of Evolving Biological Populations Make Sense; 4 An Illustrative Case; 5 Mistakes Compounded; 6 Final Considerations; Notes; References; Chapter 12. Similarity and Species Concepts; 1 Introduction; 2 Similarity or Sameness as the Basis of Concepts and Kinds

3 Realist Species Conceptions

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"A Bradford book."

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9786613321756

9781283321754

1283321750

9780262298780

0262298783

OCLC:

760279881

Publisher Number:

9786613321756