Causal powers and isomeric chemical kinds

Synthese 195 (4):1441-1457 (2018)
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Abstract

Some philosophers have claimed that kinds can be construed as mereologically complex structural properties. This essay examines several strategies aimed at construing a certain class of natural kinds, namely isomeric chemical kinds, in accordance with this view. In particular, the essay examines views which posit structural proper parts in addition to micro-constitutive parts to individuate isomeric chemical kinds. It then goes on to argue that the phenomenon of chirality in stereochemistry gives the proponent of kinds-as-complex-properties evidence for positing the existence of causal-cum-dispositional individuating proper parts, in addition to structural parts, for chemical enantiomeric kinds.

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10.1007/s11229-016-1044-x

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Andrew McFarland
LaGuardia Community College (CUNY)

Citations of this work

Properties.Francesco Orilia & Michele Paolini Paoletti - 2020 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Chemistry’s metaphysics.Vanessa A. Seifert - 2023 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Tuomas E. Tahko.

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References found in this work

A World of States of Affairs.D. M. Armstrong - 1996 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
The structure of objects.Kathrin Koslicki - 2008 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Parts : a Study in Ontology.Peter Simons - 1987 - Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 2:277-279.
A World of States of Affairs.John Heil & D. M. Armstrong - 1999 - Philosophical Review 108 (1):115.

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