Conceptualism and Objectivity in Locke's Account of Natural Kinds
Contributors: Simmons, Alison; Hall, Edward; McDonough, Jeffrey; Nickel, Bernhard
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Description: Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding is considered by many to be the locus classicus of a number of influential arguments for conventionalism, according to which there are no objective, privileged ways of classifying things in the natural world. In the dissertation I argue that Locke never meant to reject natural kinds. Still, the challenge is to explain how, within a metaphysics that explicitly denies mind-independent essences, we can make sense of a privileged, objective sorting of substances. I argue that we do so by looking to Locke's conception of God as divine architect of created substances.
Notes: Keywords: Conceptualism, Locke, Natural Kinds.

Thesis Ph.D. Harvard University 2013