Concept tag
#natural-kinds
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Species are drawn, not discovered: biology has already chosen nominalism
I study kelp forests along the Chilean coast. Within my working life, the species boundaries in some of the kelp groups I study have been argued over and redrawn on the basis of genetic data, and colleagues still disagree about how many…
Started by Ignacio Fuenzalida5 replies278 views -
Does a diagnosis name a real condition, or a useful bundle of symptoms?
I work in internal medicine in Addis Ababa. Some diagnoses I make every day feel like discoveries: a particular infection, caused by a particular organism, with a test that finds it. Others feel more like agreements. "Metabolic syndrome" is a cluster of…
Started by Tsion Bekele5 replies157 views -
Is “depression” one condition or several? A clinician’s doubts
I have practised as a psychoanalyst in Buenos Aires for many years and have worked alongside psychiatrists the whole time. One question has followed me: when two patients receive the same diagnosis of major depression, do they have the same thing? Consider…
Started by Martín Roldán4 replies138 views