Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!lll-lcc!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!OFFICE-1.ARPA!TLW.MDC From: TLW.MDC@OFFICE-1.ARPA (Tony Wilkie /DAC/) Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: Natural Kinds Message-ID:Date: Wed, 15-Jul-87 17:19:00 EDT Article-I.D.: OFFICE-1.MDC-TLW-BT5B2 Posted: Wed Jul 15 17:19:00 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jul-87 11:36:21 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 14 Approved: ailist@stripe.sri.com I may get sizzled for this, but I will suggest that the term "natural kind", while a fairly recent addition to the philosophical lexicon, is a conceptual descendant of Plato`s Forms, and more closely approximated in meaning to Aristotle's discussions of 'kinds' in his Metaphysics. Chairs would certainly be a paradigm example of a Platonic Form, and Aristotle in his Metaphysics used his horse, Bucephalus, as an example in his discussion of kinds. Given his inclination as sort of a teleological guerilla, Aristotle would have (and may have) had a tough time separating his 'kinds' concept from 'species' in the biological cases. Still, I think it safe to say that philosophical discussion of ontology preceded the development of a formal concept of species. Tony L. Wilkie