Kingston Philosophy Café

At 19:00 Kieran Quill will give a talk on the subject of Natural Kinds.

The meeting will be in Richmond.

Some treat a "Natural Kind" as a classification identifying some structure of truth and reality that exists whether or not humans recognize it. Others treat it as a human classification of knowings that work instrumentally.

Every "kind" is a generalization grouping certain characteristic traits. It consists of a general class and of individual examples of the class. As formulated by Aristotle, the essence of every thing humans can know exists as an unconditional abstract kind or species: (1) "all water [kind] is "; (2) "All men are mortal"; (3) and "All ravens are black."

Today, few scholars endorse Aristotle's formulation, but many continue to suppose that natural kinds are the structure of truth and reality. They may appear as units of scientific hypotheses, generalizations, and theories.

So what's the problem?