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Single Idea 12681

[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 2. Defining Kinds ]

Full Idea

There are natural kinds of processes.

Gist of Idea

There are natural kinds of processes

Source

Brian Ellis (The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism [2009], 3)

Book Ref

Ellis,Brian: 'The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism' [Acument 2009], p.60


A Reaction

Interesting. I am tempted by the view that processes are the most basic feature of reality, since I think of the mind as a process, and quantum reality seems more like processes than like objects.


The 9 ideas with the same theme [what exactly is a natural kind?]:

By knowing one piece of clay or gold, you know all of clay or gold [Anon (Upan)]
All water is the same, because of a certain similarity [Aristotle]
Men started with too few particular names, but later had too few natural kind names [Rousseau]
What is true of one piece of copper is true of another (unlike brass) [Peirce]
There are natural kinds of processes [Ellis]
Kinds are arrangements of dispositions [Fetzer]
Natural kinds are defined by their real essence, as in gold having atomic number 79 [Rowlands]
If F is a universal appearing in a natural law, then Fs form a natural kind [Bird]
Maybe two kinds are the same if there is no change of entropy on isothermal mixing [Hendry]