ENGLISH

Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change

By Joseph LaPorte

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2004
ISBN
0521825997, 9780521825993
Open Library ID
OL17108085M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
12 MB (12223642 bytes)
Series
Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology
Pages
116\116
Library
duansci.com
Time added
2010-05-17 00:23:50

Description

According to the received tradition, the language used to refer to natural kinds in scientific discourse remains stable even as theories about these kinds are refined. Hence, scientists discover, rather than stipulate, that sentences like 'Whales are mammals, not fish' are true. In this illuminating book, Joseph LaPorte argues that mammals, not fish', are true rather than false. Instead, scientists find that these sentences were vague in the language of earlier speakers, and they refine the meanings of the relevant natural-kind terms to make the sentences true. Hence, scientists change the meanings of these terms. This conclusion prompts LaPorte to examine the consequences of this change in meaning for the issue of incommensurability and for the progress of science.

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