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Full Idea
Regularities exist because we classify kinds on the basis of their dispositions, not on pre-established divisions of kinds. The dispositions are the basis for the division into kinds, which is why all electrons behave in the same way.
Gist of Idea
Natural kinds, such as electrons, all behave the same way because we divide them by dispositions
Source
Stephen Mumford (Dispositions [1998], 10.7)
Book Ref
Mumford,Stephen: 'Dispositions' [OUP 1998], p.235
A Reaction
This strikes me as being so obvious that it is hardly worth saying, and yet an enormous number of philosophers seem to have been led up the garden path by the notion of a 'kind', probably under the influence of Kripke, Putnam and Wiggins.
| 15660 | Logos is the source of everything, and my theories separate and explain each nature [Heraclitus] |
| 15993 | If we observe total regularity, there must be some unknown law and relationships controlling it [Locke] |
| 11191 | The hidden structure of a natural kind determines membership in all possible worlds [Putnam] |
| 12680 | Natural kind structures go right down to the bottom level [Ellis] |
| 5471 | Essentialism says natural kinds are fundamental to nature, and determine the laws [Ellis] |
| 13574 | Natural kinds are distinguished by resting on essences [Ellis] |
| 15150 | The properties of an electron can't be explained just as 'clustering' [Chakravartty on Boyd] |
| 15149 | Properties cluster together, either because of intrinsic relations, or because of an underlying process [Boyd, by Chakravartty] |
| 14344 | Natural kinds, such as electrons, all behave the same way because we divide them by dispositions [Mumford] |
| 14957 | There is nothing more to a natural kind than a real pattern in nature [Ladyman/Ross] |
| 15146 | Some kinds, such as electrons, have essences, but 'cluster kinds' do not [Chakravartty] |
| 13287 | Concepts for species are either intrinsic structure, or relations like breeding or ancestry [Koslicki] |
| 15641 | Kinds are fixed by the essential properties of things - the properties that make it that kind of thing [Eagle] |