Discovery and Decision:: Exploring the Metaphysics and Epistemology of Scientific Classification

Examines the philosophical question of scientific classification "Discovery and Decision takes a fresh look at the philosophical question of scientific classification, by illustrating that the natural world can be divided into competing classes or kinds, all of which are scientifically significant; by showing that scientists make a choice between competing classifications when they carve up the natural world: scientific classification involves both metaphysics (the way the world is) and epistemology (human aims, theories, and commitments); and by introducing a new model of classification (based on recent developments in the psychology of categorization) to explain the differing ways in which scientists carve up the natural world."--Jacket