Why Hacking is Wrong about Human Kinds
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8398403 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rachel Cooper (0000-0003-3370-5720, Lancaster University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 73-85 |
| Publication date | 2004-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/55.1.73 |
| OpenAlex | W2151131092 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 23 |
| References cited | 10 |
‘Human kind’ is a term introduced by Ian Hacking to refer to the kinds of people—child abusers, pregnant teenagers, the unemployed—studied by the human sciences. Hacking argues that classifying and describing human kinds results in feedback, which alters the very kinds under study. This feedback results in human kinds having histories totally unlike those of natural kinds (such as gold, electrons and tigers), leading Hacking to conclude that human kinds are radically unlike natural kinds. Here I argue that Hacking's argument fails and that he has not demonstrated that human kinds cannot be natural kinds. 1. Introduction 2. Natural kinds 3. Hacking's feedback mechanisms 3.1 Cultural feedback 3.2 Conceptual feedback
Argument (complex analysis) · Biology · Computer security · Epistemology · Hacker · Natural (archaeology) · Sociology · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Cognitive Science and Education Research · Computer Science · History · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 23 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,1 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2026 (22) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 23 |