Abstract
Non-epistemic values play important roles in classificatory practice, such that philosophical accounts of kinds and classification should be able to accommodate them. Available accounts fail to do so, however. Our aim is to fill this lacuna by showing how non-epistemic values feature in scientific classification, and how they can be incorporated into a philosophical theory of classification and kinds. To achieve this, we present a novel account of kinds and classification (the Grounded Functionality Account), discuss examples from biological classification where non-epistemic values play decisive roles, and show how this account accommodates the role of non-epistemic values.
Highlights
Some authors doubt the feasibility of a clear distinction between epistemic and non-epistemic values, and argue that what might be considered an epistemic value in one context might be considered a non-epistemic value in another context (Rooney, 1992, 2017; Longino, 1996)
We examine how non-epistemic values can affect the choice between hypotheses regarding the classification of entities in a particular domain, and how they affect the way in which classifications are constructed and formulated
We show how the Grounded Functionality Account (GFA) handles the acceptance of classifications according to non-epistemic values and, by comparisons with other accounts of kinds and classification, how the GFA’s machinery works
Summary
In the past few decades the role of values in science has developed into a major topic in philosophy of science (e.g., Longino, 1983, 1990, 1996; Rooney, 1992, 2017; Intemann, 2001; Kincaid et al, 2007; Douglas, 2009, 2016; Elliott, 2017; Elliott & McKaughan, 2014; Elliott & Steel, 2017). A common distinction in the literature is between epistemic (or constitutive) and non-epistemic (or contextual) values (Longino, 1983, 1990, 1996). The former category consists of values that promote the epistemic aims of science; examples include empirical adequacy, simplicity,
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