• Medientyp: E-Artikel
  • Titel: Natural kinds, mind-independence, and unification principles
  • Beteiligte: Tahko, Tuomas E.
  • Erschienen: Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022
  • Erschienen in: Synthese
  • Sprache: Englisch
  • DOI: 10.1007/s11229-022-03661-7
  • ISSN: 0039-7857; 1573-0964
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  • Beschreibung: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>There have been many attempts to determine what makes a natural kind real, chief among them is the criterion according to which natural kinds must be <jats:italic>mind-independent</jats:italic>. But it is difficult to specify this criterion: many supposed natural kinds have an element of mind-<jats:italic>dependence.</jats:italic> I will argue that the mind-independence criterion is nevertheless a good one, if correctly understood: the mind-independence criterion concerns the <jats:italic>unification principles</jats:italic> for natural kinds. Unification principles determine how natural kinds unify their properties, and only those natural kinds that have a mind-independent unification principle should be considered real.</jats:p>