Carving Nature at Its Joints - Natural Kinds in Metaphysics and Science (Paperback)

Reflections on the metaphysics and epistemology of classification from a distinguished group of philosophers. Contemporary discussions of the success of science often invoke an ancient metaphor from Plato's Phaedrus: successful theories should "carve nature at its joints." But is nature really "jointed"? Are there natural kinds of things around which our theories cut? The essays in this volume offer reflections by a distinguished group of philosophers on a series of intertwined issues in the metaphysics and epistemology of classification. The contributors consider such topics as the relevance of natural kinds in inductive inference; the role of natural kinds in natural laws; the nature of fundamental properties; the naturalness of boundaries; the metaphysics and epistemology of biological kinds; and the relevance of biological kinds to certain questions in ethics. Carving Nature at Its Joints offers both breadth and thematic unity, providing a sampling of state-of-the-art work in contemporary analytic philosophy that will be of interest to a wide audience of scholars and students concerned with classification.

General

Imprint:	Bradford Books
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Topics in Contemporary Philosophy
Release date:	November 2011
First published:	2011
Editors:	Joseph Keim Campbell (Associate Professor) • Michael O'Rourke (Professor) • Matthew H. Slater
Contributors:	Alexander Bird • Andrea Borghini • Judith Crane • Michael Devitt • Bruce Glymour • Peter Godfrey-Smith (Professor of History and Philosophy of Science) • Marc Lange
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 19mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	368
ISBN-13:	978-0-262-51626-6
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Metaphysics & ontology Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Epistemology, theory of knowledge Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Epistemology, theory of knowledge Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Metaphysics & ontology Promotions
LSN:	0-262-51626-8
Barcode:	9780262516266

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!