Natural diversity: A neo-essentialist misconstrual of homeostatic property cluster theory in natural kind debates

Lipski, Joachim (2020): Natural diversity: A neo-essentialist misconstrual of homeostatic property cluster theory in natural kind debates. In: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 82: pp. 94-103

Abstract

In natural kind debates, Boyd's famous Homeostatic Property Cluster theory (HPC) is often misconstrued in two ways: Not only is it thought to make for a normative standard for natural kinds, but also to require the homeostatic mechanisms underlying nomological property clusters to be uniform. My argument for the illegitimacy of both overgeneralizations, both on systematic as well as exegetical grounds, is based on the misconstrued view's failure to account for functional kinds in science. I illustrate the combination of these two misconstruals with recent entries into the natural kind debate about emotions. Finally, I examine and reject Stich's "Kornblith-Devitt method" as a potential justification of these misconstruals.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Science
• Subjects: 100 Philosophy and Psychology > 100 Philosophy
• ISSN: 0039-3681
• Language: English