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Single Idea 10952
[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 1. Natural Kinds
]
Full Idea
The kind that is common to both horse and ass and which most nearly comprises them happens not to have a name, but can safely be presumed to be both, i.e. the horse-ass or 'mule'. ...A mule does not come from a mule.
Gist of Idea
Unusual kinds like mule are just a combination of two kinds
Source
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1033b32)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.195
A Reaction
[second part at 1034b04] Does ancient Greek have a word for 'mule' - it sounds as if it doesn't. Nice chicken-and-egg problem. Must a natural kind be derived from a natural kind? No. Gold does not derive from gold.
The
20 ideas
with the same theme
[general ideas about natural kinds]:
10952
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Unusual kinds like mule are just a combination of two kinds
[Aristotle]
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19244
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Chemists rely on a single experiment to establish a fact; repetition is pointless
[Peirce]
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7375
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Quine probably regrets natural kinds now being treated as essences
[Quine, by Dennett]
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16935
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If similarity has no degrees, kinds cannot be contained within one another
[Quine]
|
16936
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Comparative similarity allows the kind 'colored' to contain the kind 'red'
[Quine]
|
6613
|
The natural kinds are objects, processes and properties/relations
[Ellis]
|
5472
|
Natural kinds are of objects/substances, or events/processes, or intrinsic natures
[Ellis]
|
15886
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Science rests on the principle that nature is a hierarchy of natural kinds
[Harré]
|
17371
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Some kinds are very explanatory, but others less so, and some not at all
[Devitt]
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17381
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Phylogenetics involves history, and cladism rests species on splits in lineage
[Dupré]
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17385
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Kinds don't do anything (including evolve) because they are abstract
[Dupré]
|
6767
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Rubies and sapphires are both corundum, with traces of metals varying their colours
[Bird]
|
6768
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Tin is not one natural kind, but appears to be 21, depending on isotope
[Bird]
|
6771
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Natural kinds may overlap, or be sub-kinds of one another
[Bird]
|
6770
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Membership of a purely random collection cannot be used as an explanation
[Bird]
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6776
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Natural kinds are those that we use in induction
[Bird]
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17394
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Natural kinds are what are differentiated by nature, and not just by us
[Scerri]
|
17421
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If elements are natural kinds, might the groups of the periodic table also be natural kinds?
[Scerri]
|
14504
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The Kripke/Putnam approach to natural kind terms seems to give them excessive stability
[Koslicki]
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18613
|
Artifacts can be natural kinds, when they are the object of historical enquiry
[Machery]
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