more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 13285

[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 3. Knowing Kinds ]

Full Idea

Natural kinds are said to stand out from other classifications because they support legitimate inductive inferences ...as when we observe that past samples of copper conduct electricity and infer that the next sample will too.

Gist of Idea

Natural kinds support inductive inferences, from previous samples to the next one

Source

Kathrin Koslicki (The Structure of Objects [2008], 8.3.1)

Book Ref

Koslicki,Kathrin: 'The Structure of Objects' [OUP 2008], p.204

A Reaction

A slightly more precise version of the Upanishad definition of natural kinds which I favour (Idea 8153). If you can't predict the next one from the previous one, it isn't a natural kind. You can't quite predict the next tiger from the previous one.

Related Idea

Idea 8153 By knowing one piece of clay or gold, you know all of clay or gold [Anon (Upan)]

The 22 ideas from 'The Structure of Objects'

14497 The clay is just a part of the statue (its matter); the rest consists of its form or structure [Koslicki]
14496 Structure or form are right at the centre of modern rigorous modes of enquiry [Koslicki]
13266 Wholes in modern mereology are intended to replace sets, so they closely resemble them [Koslicki]
14495 I aim to put the notion of structure or form back into the concepts of part, whole and object [Koslicki]
14498 For three-dimensionalist parthood must be a three-place relation, including times [Koslicki]
14500 Wholes are entities distinct from their parts, and have different properties [Koslicki]
14501 'Categorical' properties exist in the actual world, and 'hypothetical' properties in other worlds [Koslicki]
13264 If a whole is just a structure, a dinner party wouldn't need the guests to turn up [Koslicki]
13258 The 'aggregative' objections says mereology gets existence and location of objects wrong [Koslicki]
13281 Wholes are not just their parts; a whole is an entity distinct from the proper parts [Koslicki]
13283 The parts may be the same type as the whole, like a building made of buildings [Koslicki]
13280 Statue and clay differ in modal and temporal properties, and in constitution [Koslicki]
13279 There are at least six versions of constitution being identity [Koslicki]
13284 Should vernacular classifications ever be counted as natural kind terms? [Koslicki]
13285 Natural kinds support inductive inferences, from previous samples to the next one [Koslicki]
13287 Concepts for species are either intrinsic structure, or relations like breeding or ancestry [Koslicki]
13286 There are apparently no scientific laws concerning biological species [Koslicki]
14504 The Kripke/Putnam approach to natural kind terms seems to give them excessive stability [Koslicki]
14505 Some questions concern mathematical entities, rather than whole structures [Koslicki]
14506 'Roses are red; therefore, roses are colored' seems truth-preserving, but not valid in a system [Koslicki]
13288 Consequence is truth-preserving, either despite substitutions, or in all interpretations [Koslicki]
13289 Structures have positions, constituent types and number, and some invariable parts [Koslicki]