P. Magnus 
Scientific Enquiry and Natural Kinds 
From Planets to Mallards

Some scientific categories seem to correspond to genuine features of the world and are indispensable for successful science in some domain; in short, they are natural kinds. This book gives a general account of what it is to be a natural kind and puts the account to work illuminating numerous specific examples.

Table of Content

List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction How to Think About Natural Kinds A Modest Definition Natural Kinds Put to Work Practical and Impractical Ontology The Menace of Triviality Causal Processes and Property Clusters Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the author

P.D. MAGNUS is Associate Professor and teaches philosophy at the University at Albany, SUNY, USA. He has been a visiting fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science in Pittsburgh, he is the co-editor (with Jacob Busch) of
New Waves in Philosophy of Science, and he is the author or co-author of dozens of published essays.