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Single Idea 17382

[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 7. Critique of Kinds ]

Full Idea

It would be a severe culinary misfortune if no distinction were drawn between garlic and onions, a distinction that is not reflected in scientific taxonomy.

Gist of Idea

Cooks, unlike scientists, distinguish garlic from onions

Source

John Dupré (The Disorder of Things [1993], 1)

Book Ref

Dupré,John: 'The Disorder of Things' [Harvard 1995], p.34

A Reaction

Not every persuasive. We distinguish some cows from others because they taste better, but no one thinks that is a serious way in which to classify cows.

The 17 ideas from John Dupré

17374 The possibility of prediction rests on determinism [Dupré]
17375 Natural kinds are decided entirely by the intentions of our classification [Dupré]
17379 Borders between species are much less clear in vegetables than among animals [Dupré]
17377 All descriptive language is classificatory [Dupré]
17380 Wales may count as fish [Dupré]
17378 Presumably molecular structure seems important because we never have the Twin Earth experience [Dupré]
17382 Cooks, unlike scientists, distinguish garlic from onions [Dupré]
17381 Phylogenetics involves history, and cladism rests species on splits in lineage [Dupré]
17385 Kinds don't do anything (including evolve) because they are abstract [Dupré]
17389 A species might have its essential genetic mechanism replaced by a new one [Dupré]
17388 It seems that species lack essential properties, so they can't be natural kinds [Dupré]
17384 Even atoms of an element differ, in the energy levels of their electrons [Dupré]
17387 Ecologists favour classifying by niche, even though that can clash with genealogy [Dupré]
17383 Species are the lowest-level classification in biology [Dupré]
17386 The theory of evolution is mainly about species [Dupré]
17390 Natural kinds don't need essentialism to be explanatory [Dupré]
17376 We should aim for a classification which tells us as much as possible about the object [Dupré]