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Full Idea
To say that a class is natural is to say that when some of its members are shown to people they pick out others without hesitation and in agreement.
Gist of Idea
A class is natural when everybody can spot further members of it
Source
Anthony Quinton (The Nature of Things [1973], 9 'Nat')
Book Ref
Quinton,Anthony: 'The Nature of Things' [RKP 1973], p.264
A Reaction
He concedes a number of problems with his view, but I admire his attempt to at least begin to distinguish the natural (real!) classes from the ersatz ones. A mention of causal powers would greatly improve his story.
9406 | A class is natural when everybody can spot further members of it [Quinton] |
15730 | Extreme nominalists say all classification is arbitrary convention [Quinton] |
15728 | The naturalness of a class depends as much on the observers as on the objects [Quinton] |
9407 | Properties imply natural classes which can be picked out by everybody [Quinton] |
15729 | Uninstantiated properties must be defined using the instantiated ones [Quinton] |
8520 | An individual is a union of a group of qualities and a position [Quinton, by Campbell,K] |