ABSTRACT
In the 1950s and 1960s, philosophy of science inherited from logical positivism a consensus that the meaning of a scientific term is determined by its theoretical role. This chapter examines two objections to Putnam’s account: the ‘qua’ problem, and Joseph LaPorte’s charge of referential indeterminacy. It describes the idea that the problems of many kinds can be resolved by appeal to a priori criteria for what can count as a natural kind. The ‘qua’ problem concerns how, given these facts, a direct theory of reference can hope to show that some natural-kind term refers to one kind rather than any of the others that might be instantiated by the particular examples surrounding its users. Putnam’s view presumes that what makes something gold is its composition, which may be unknown both to historical scientists and to laypeople.
