Authority and Natural Kind Essence

Axiomathes 28 (1):1-12 (2018)
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Abstract

If natural kinds have microstructural essences they have them independently of rules for the application of kind terms. This suggests that what those rules are should make no difference to the essences being discoverable. I present two thought-experiments that suggest otherwise, however. Each shows an authority’s application of rules creates the appearance of there being kind essences; absent those rules, the appearance vanishes. This suggests natural kind essences are not independent of authority-sanctioned rules.

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Jonah Goldwater
William & Mary

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References found in this work

The meaning of 'meaning'.Hilary Putnam - 1975 - Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science 7:131-193.
Naming and Necessity.Saul Kripke - 1980 - Critica 17 (49):69-71.
Naming and Necessity.S. Kripke - 1972 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 45 (4):665-666.
Real Essentialism.David S. Oderberg - 2007 - New York: Routledge.
Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change.Joseph LaPorte - 2003 - New York: Cambridge University Press.

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