The Invention of Natural Kinds

Abstract

This paper begins by pointing out the major weaknesses of the essentialist and constructivist conceptions of natural kinds. Then, it presents and defends the Richard Boyd’s theory, among others authors, that defines natural kinds as homeostatic property clusters. In this theory the concept of natural kind becomes flexible and applicable not only to physics and chemistry, but also to biology, the social sciences and even common knowledge, and the acceptance of a certain kind as natural depends on points of view and spatiotemporal circumstances. However, this theory maintains a realist approach to natural kinds because argues that inferential and predictive capacity of these is a result of their accommodation to causal structure of world.
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Álvarez Toledo, S. (2019). The Invention of Natural Kinds. ArtefaCToS. Revista De Estudios Sobre La Ciencia Y La tecnología, 8(1), 40–60. https://doi.org/10.14201/art2019814060

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Author Biography

Sebastián Álvarez Toledo

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Universidad de Salamanca
Profesor Titular de Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia Dpto. Filosofía, Lógica y Estética Facultad de Filosofía – edificio F.E.S. - USAL Paseo Francisco Tomás y Valiente, s/n E-37007 Salamanca (España)
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