Single Idea 18613

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 1. Natural Kinds]

Full Idea

Some artifacts are the objects of inquiry in the social sciences ...such as prehistoric tools ...and hence, artifacts are bona fide natural kinds.

Gist of Idea

Artifacts can be natural kinds, when they are the object of historical enquiry

Source

Edouard Machery (Doing Without Concepts [2009], 8.2.1)

Book Reference

Machery,Edouard: 'Doing Without Concepts' [OUP 2009], p.234


A Reaction

Presumably if a bird's nest can be a natural kind, then so can a flint axe, but then so can a mobile phone, for an urban anthropologist. 'Natural' is, to put it mildly, a tricky word.