Seminar with Genoveva Martí (ICREA [Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats] and Universitat de Barcelona)

The semantics of natural kind terms. A critical reflection on experimental and theoretical issues.

The seminar will be a hybrid meeting. It will be held in room 28 on Grodzka 52, Kraków and Teams on May 18, 2023 (Thursday, 17:30 GMT+2). 

Abstract:

The approach to natural kinds and to the semantics of natural kind terms defended by Kripke and Putnam has been discussed, objected to, and defended, since it was proposed in the early 70’s. The discussion of the Kripke-Putnam model has taken another turn as of recent with the publication of some studies by experimental philosophers (some of them conducted in collaboration with psychologists) on biological kind terms. My purpose is to discuss critically some of the theoretical assumptions and some of the conclusions presented in recent studies performed by experimental semanticists.

This research was funded by the Priority Research Area Heritage under the program Excellence Initiative – Research University at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow