Natural Categories and Human Kinds: Classification in the Natural and Social Sciences - Couverture rigide

Khalidi, Muhammad Ali

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1107012740 ISBN 13 : 9781107012745

Editeur : Cambridge University Press, 2013

Synopsis

The notion of 'natural kinds' has been central to contemporary discussions of metaphysics and philosophy of science. Although explicitly articulated by nineteenth-century philosophers like Mill, Whewell and Venn, it has a much older history dating back to Plato and Aristotle. In recent years, essentialism has been the dominant account of natural kinds among philosophers, but the essentialist view has encountered resistance, especially among naturalist metaphysicians and philosophers of science. Informed by detailed examination of classification in the natural and social sciences, this book argues against essentialism and for a naturalist account of natural kinds. By looking at case studies drawn from diverse scientific disciplines, from fluid mechanics to virology and polymer science to psychiatry, the author argues that natural kinds are nodes in causal networks. On the basis of this account, he maintains that there can be natural kinds in the social sciences as well as the natural sciences.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Muhammad Ali Khalidi is Associate Professor of Philosophy at York University, Toronto.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Cambridge University Press
• Date d'édition: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1107012740
• ISBN 13: 9781107012745
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 264
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Cambridge University Press; https://www.cambridge.org/; ; Via Honduras,15; Pomezia; Italia; 71; Italie