The epistemology-only approach to natural kinds

a reply to Thomas Reydon

Miles Macleod

pp. 189-194

in: Friedrich Stadler (ed), The present situation in the philosophy of science, Berlin, Springer, 2010

Abstract

What I"m going to comment on here mostly are the issues of natural kinds that Thomas Reydon raises with respect to his "epistemology-first" strategy, rather than specifically the problem of the special sciences, although is clear that it is with respect to the special sciences and the problem of field demarcation that any notion of natural kind has its most pressing application. I"m going to suggest a perhaps rather pragmatic extension of this strategy which would attempt to provide a degree of philosophical usefulness in this regard but avoid the traditional problems which I don't think we escape unless this strategy is pushed to the logical conclusion of an epistemology-onlyapproach.