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SUMMARY:Mechanisms and natural kinds - Emma Tobin (UCL)
DTSTART:20161027T143000Z
DTEND:20161027T160000Z
UID:TALK67860@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Marta Halina
DESCRIPTION:In the classification literature\, there has been much discuss
 ion of the no-overlap principle\, which allows a categorical distinction b
 etween natural kinds from a realist perspective. However\, cases of crossc
 utting natural kinds in scientific practice provide a serious challenge to
  the no-overlap principle (Khalidi\, 1998\, Dupre 1993\, Tobin 2010). The 
 HPC view of natural kinds has emerged in order to accommodate the fuzzy bo
 undaries we associate with clusters of properties\, by the introduction of
  a homeostatic regulating mechanism. Craver (2009) claims that there is a 
 difficulty in deciding where a particular mechanism begins and another end
 s. The strategy of lumping and splitting is designed in order to accommoda
 te the no overlap principle\; namely if you find that a single cluster of 
 properties is regulated by more than one mechanism\, then because there ca
 n be no overlap between mechanisms\, then we must split the natural cluste
 rs. However\, a closer analysis of dynamic mechanisms in scientific practi
 ce reveal that the overlap problem re-emerges with the strategy of lumping
  and splitting in that there is an assumption that once a mechanism is fou
 nd to be responsible for a property cluster\, that this is sufficient for 
 delineating the boundaries of that cluster. Scientific practice reveals th
 at there might be multiple causal routes that could result in a similar fu
 nctional output. Moreover\, there might be different kinds of mechanisms\,
  which produce the same property cluster and depending on which one we are
  using\, the decision to lump or split may be different. The paper conclud
 es with some observations about the implications for the classification of
  mechanisms and to the additional question as to whether mechanisms are th
 emselves natural kinds.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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