So, the dictionary definition (SEP) would be something like “objectively good/parsimonious/effective ways of carving up reality.”
There’s also the implication that when we use kinds in reasoning, things of the same kind should share most or all important properties for the task at hand. There’s also sort of the implication that humans naively think of the world as made out of natural kinds on an ontologically basic level.
I’m saying that even if people don’t believe in disembodied souls, when they ask “what do I want?” they think they’re getting an answer back that is objectively a good/parsimonious/effective way of talking. That there is some thing, not necessarily a soul but at least a pattern, that is being accessed by different ways of asking “what do I want?”, which can’t give us inconsistent answers because it’s all one thing.
What’s a natural kind?
So, the dictionary definition (SEP) would be something like “objectively good/parsimonious/effective ways of carving up reality.”
There’s also the implication that when we use kinds in reasoning, things of the same kind should share most or all important properties for the task at hand. There’s also sort of the implication that humans naively think of the world as made out of natural kinds on an ontologically basic level.
I’m saying that even if people don’t believe in disembodied souls, when they ask “what do I want?” they think they’re getting an answer back that is objectively a good/parsimonious/effective way of talking. That there is some thing, not necessarily a soul but at least a pattern, that is being accessed by different ways of asking “what do I want?”, which can’t give us inconsistent answers because it’s all one thing.