Abstract
Abstract Ian Hacking uses the looping effect to describe how classificatory practices in the human sciences interact with the classified people. While arguably this interaction renders the affected human kinds unstable and hence different from natural kinds, realists argue that also some prototypical natural kinds are interactive and human kinds in general are stable enough to support explanations and predictions. I defend a more fine-grained realist interpretation of interactive human kinds by arguing for an explanatory domain account of the looping effect. First, I argue that knowledge of the feedback mechanisms that mediate the looping effect can supplement, and help to identify, the applicability domain over which a kind and its property variations are stably explainable. Second, by applying this account to cross-cultural case studies of psychiatric disorders, I distinguish between congruent feedback mechanisms that explain matches between classifications and kinds, and incongruent feedback mechanisms that explain mismatches. For example, congruent mechanisms maintain Western auditory experiences in schizophrenia, whereas exporting diagnostic labels inflicts incongruence by influencing local experiences. Knowledge of the mechanisms can strengthen explanatory domains, and thereby facilitate classificatory adjustments and possible interventions on psychiatric disorders.
Highlights
Ian Hacking (e.g. 1986, 1995b) uses the looping effect to characterize a phenomenon that underlies many social constructivist arguments
I have defended a realistic account of interactive human kinds by arguing that feedback explanations can supplement the explanatory domains over which the kinds sustain epistemic projects
A feedback explanation’s explanatory relevance depends on its ability to widen and deepen – enhance the domain of applicability – ways of explaining a human kind. By applying this approach to empirical case studies, I demonstrated that congruent mechanisms can supplement, in various ways and degrees, the applicability domain of interactive human kinds, while incongruent mechanisms can help to identify why the domain is unstable
Summary
Ian Hacking (e.g. 1986, 1995b) uses the looping effect to characterize a phenomenon that underlies many social constructivist arguments. I assert that knowledge of the feedback mechanisms that mediate the looping effect can supplement the explanatory domain over which a kind and its variations are accountable. Classificatory projects that apply the explanation do not exceed the limits of their own applicability Based on this account, I argue that knowledge of feedback mechanisms can supplement the domain over which a human kind is explainable by accounting for some of its dynamic properties and identifying the limits of the domain’s applicability. Incongruent feedback mechanisms describe mismatches between classifications and kinds They can help to identify unintentional misclassifications and their effects, or more problematically for epistemic projects, value-driven classificatory and behaviour adjustments. I suggest that knowledge of the feedback mechanisms facilitates classificatory adjustments and interventions on interactive kinds such as psychiatric disorders
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