Carving Nature without Joints: The Role of Values in the Identification of Kinds

Francesco Guala (Università degli Studi di Milano), Davide Serpico (Università degli Studi di Milano)

The Mind, Language and Action Group (MLAG), a research unit of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Porto, invites you to the fifth talk of the new MLAG Seminar Series featuring presentations by international researchers on topics of interest to the group. The talk, given by Francesco Guala and Davide Serpico (Univeristy of Milan) and entitled "Carving Nature without Joints: The Role of Values in the Identification of Kinds", will take place on February 23, 13:00-14:30 Western European Time (WET). The meeting is online. MS TEAMS details: Meeting ID: 311 808 653 439 13; Passcode: ec6WP7q5

The seminar is jointly organized by Sofia Miguens (MLAG-IF), Dan Zeman (MLAG-IF), James Grayot (MLAG-IF), Rafael Antunes Padilha (MLAG-IF|IFCH-UNICAMP), Samuel Lima (FLUP) and João Carlos Rocha Lima (FLUP). Information about MLAG can be found here: https://ifilosofia.up.pt/research-groups/mlag. To contact the organisers, please send an email to [email protected].

All welcome!

ABSTRACT:

What roles do values play in the identification of kinds? In this paper, we explore this question within the framework of the property cluster view, showing that topological tools provide fruitful ways to address them. In the first part, we argue that a key  epistemic value (inductive success) imposes non-trivial constraints on the shape of kinds. In the second part, we distinguish between two roles that non-epistemic values may play in the individuation of kinds. On the one hand, values may shield our inferential practices from costly mistakes and mitigate the negative effects of performative kinds. On the other, it may be desirable to let values play a weaker role to facilitate communication and comparability across contexts. We conclude with some reflections on the pros and cons of letting values play a stronger or a weaker role in kind-making. These options do not reflect a sharp dichotomy between ‘value-laden’ and ‘value-free’ science, but rather a spectrum of contexts in which the epistemic and non-epistemic pressures on kind construction vary.