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Biochemical Kinds

Bartol, Jordan (2015) Biochemical Kinds. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Chemical kinds (e.g. gold) are generally treated as having timelessly fixed identities. Biological kinds (e.g. goldfinches) are generally treated as evolved and/or evolving entities. So what kind of kind is a biochemical kind? This paper defends the thesis that biochemical molecules are clustered chemical kinds, some of which–namely, evolutionarily conserved units–are also biological kinds. On this thesis, a number of difficulties that have recently occupied philosophers concerned with proteins and kinds are shown to be resolved or dissolved.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Bartol, Jordanphjnb@leeds.ac.uk
Keywords: Biochemical, Natural Kinds, Protein, Classification, Biochemistry
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User: Mr Jordan Bartol
Date Deposited: 08 Apr 2014 14:50
Last Modified: 08 Apr 2014 14:50
Item ID: 10602
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date: 2015
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10602

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