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The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Advance Access published online on November 9, 2009
The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, doi:10.1093/bjps/axp042
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© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for the Philosophy of Science. All rights reserved.

Interactive Kinds

Muhammad Ali Khalidi

Department of Philosophy York University 4700 Keele Street, Toronto Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada khalidi{at}yorku.ca


  Abstract

This paper examines the phenomenon of ‘interactive kinds’ first identified by Ian Hacking. An interactive kind is one that is created or significantly modified once a concept of it has been formulated and acted upon in certain ways. Interactive kinds may also ‘loop back’ to influence our concepts and classifications. According to Hacking, interactive kinds are found exclusively in the human domain. After providing a general account of interactive kinds and outlining their philosophical significance, I argue that they are not confined to the human realm, but that they can also occur elsewhere. Hence, I conclude by arguing that interactive kinds pose a challenge to scientific realism about kinds by making it difficult to make a distinction between real and non-real kinds.

  1. Introduction
  2. The Looping Effect
  3. A General Account of Interactive Kinds
  4. Are All Interactive Kinds Human Kinds?
  5. Awareness and Intentional Action
  6. Ontology
  7. Conclusion


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