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Single Idea 15150

[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 4. Source of Kinds ]

Full Idea

Boyd's homeostatic mechanisms are not responsible for the co-instantiation of the mass, charge and spin of an electron.

Gist of Idea

The properties of an electron can't be explained just as 'clustering'

Source

comment on Richard Boyd (Homeostasis, Species and Higher Taxa [1999]) by Anjan Chakravarrty - Inessential Aristotle: Powers without Essences 3


A Reaction

I would have thought that no one has the foggiest idea (unless I have missed something?) about why electrons have those three properties. What is it about electrons that makes them do that? Explanations always run out somewhere. Substratum!

Related Idea

Idea 15149 Properties cluster together, either because of intrinsic relations, or because of an underlying process [Boyd, by Chakravartty]


The 13 ideas with the same theme [what underlies the divisions of natural kinds]:

Logos is the source of everything, and my theories separate and explain each nature [Heraclitus]
If we observe total regularity, there must be some unknown law and relationships controlling it [Locke]
The hidden structure of a natural kind determines membership in all possible worlds [Putnam]
Natural kind structures go right down to the bottom level [Ellis]
Essentialism says natural kinds are fundamental to nature, and determine the laws [Ellis]
Natural kinds are distinguished by resting on essences [Ellis]
The properties of an electron can't be explained just as 'clustering' [Chakravartty on Boyd]
Properties cluster together, either because of intrinsic relations, or because of an underlying process [Boyd, by Chakravartty]
Natural kinds, such as electrons, all behave the same way because we divide them by dispositions [Mumford]
There is nothing more to a natural kind than a real pattern in nature [Ladyman/Ross]
Some kinds, such as electrons, have essences, but 'cluster kinds' do not [Chakravartty]
Concepts for species are either intrinsic structure, or relations like breeding or ancestry [Koslicki]
Kinds are fixed by the essential properties of things - the properties that make it that kind of thing [Eagle]