ABSTRACT
This volume launches a new series of contemporary conversations about scientific classification. Most philosophical conversations about kinds have focused centrally or solely on natural kinds, that is, kinds whose existence is not dependent on the scientific process of synthesis. This volume refocuses conversations about classification on unnatural, or synthetic, kinds via extensive study of three paradigm cases of unnatural kinds: nanomaterials, stem cells, and synthetic biology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part Dialogue one|48 pages
Historical lenses on classification in chemistry and biology
chapter 2|28 pages
Crafting names and making kinds
Lessons from the 1892 Geneva Nomenclature Congress
chapter 3|18 pages
Biological kinds at the turn of the 20th century
Characters, genes, and species as theoretical elements
part Dialogue two|36 pages
A new synthesis of concerns about biological kinds
chapter 4|15 pages
Artifacts and artefacts
A methodological classification of context-specific regularities
part Dialogue three|39 pages
Scientific, philosophical, and legal challenges in classifying biological constructs
chapter 6|15 pages
What is a new object?
Case studies of classification problems and practices at the intersection of law and biotechnology
part Dialogue four|47 pages
Synthetic kinds in chemistry and nanoscience
chapter 8|22 pages
Nanochemistry meets philosophy of science
A conversation about collaborative classification
