Introduction

Conversations about classification and categorization in philosophy are as old as the discipline itself, and philosophical problems about classification are as pervasive as they are persistent. The kinds of kinds considered in the volume, which we describe variously as “unnatural” or “synthetic” kinds, fall under a certain category of experimental products found most often in chemistry and biology, but which may be found across the sciences. Synthetic kinds encounter many of the same and quite a few distinct challenges, relative to their non-synthetic counterparts. The role of human use in the generation, articulation, and classification of synthetic kinds is also somewhat distinct from both realist and some constructivist perspectives on the role of human use in the articulation of natural kinds. Synthetic Kinds in Chemistry and Nanoscience, features a majority of practicing chemists, all of whom have spent time and energy engaging with philosophical considerations of classification in their own work.