Are Stellar Kinds Natural Kinds? A Challenging Newcomer in the Monism/ Pluralism and Realism/Antirealism Debates.

Stars are remarkably absent from reflections on natural kinds and classifications, with gold, tiger, jade, and water getting all the philosophical attention. It is a pity, for interesting philosophical lessons can be drawn from stellar taxonomy as regards two central debates about natural kinds, to...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Philosophy of Science Vol. 77; no. 5; pp. 1109 - 1121
Autor principal: Ruphy, Stéphanie
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Cambridge University Press Dec2010
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Stars are remarkably absent from reflections on natural kinds and classifications, with gold, tiger, jade, and water getting all the philosophical attention. It is a pity, for interesting philosophical lessons can be drawn from stellar taxonomy as regards two central debates about natural kinds, to wit, the monism/pluralism debate and the realism/antirealism debate. I show in particular that stellar kinds will not please the essentialist monist, nor will it please the pluralist embracing promiscuous realism à la Dupré. I conclude on a more general note by questioning the relationship between taxonomic scientific practice and philosophical doctrines of natural kinds.