The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds by Beebee Helen; Sabbarton-Leary Nigel

Author:Beebee, Helen; Sabbarton-Leary, Nigel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Humanities
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2010-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

3. CONCLUSION

Despite important and natural worries broached by capable philosophers, the claims of section 1 seem solid. Essentialism remains plausible in view of current science and current biology in particular. However, the usual views according to which scientists discover and report the truth of theoretical identity statements conveying the essence of kinds that speakers have all along been discussing, with the relevant subject terms, are mistaken.14, 15

NOTES

1. See LaPorte 2004: 11–12. Different workers differ slightly in their use of ‘clade’: I include the stem, but little rests on it here. More bothersome are different uses of a word like ‘Mammalia’ or ‘fish’: sometimes when I say that an organism does or does not belong, I am talking about what certain scientists would call by that name, other times what some group of earlier speakers would call by that name, and so on. I claim that such words’ use changes over time, so what counts as belonging to the extension will vary depending on the use in question. In general, to keep the presentation readable, I cue the reader with italics where caution is needed and let context clarify the use in question.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.