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The Role Of Optimality In Aristotle's Natural Science, Devin Henry
The Role Of Optimality In Aristotle's Natural Science, Devin Henry
Devin Henry
In this paper I examine the role of optimality reasoning in Aristotle’s natural science. By “optimality reasoning” I mean reasoning that appeals to some conception of “what is best” in order to explain why things are the way they are. We are first introduced to this pattern of reasoning in the famous passage at Phaedo 97b8-98a2, where (Plato’s) Socrates invokes “what is best” as a cause (aitia) of things in nature. This passage can be seen as the intellectual ancestor of Aristotle’s own principle, expressed by the famous dictum “nature does nothing in vain but always what is best for …
A Sharp Eye For Kinds: Collection & Division In Plato's Late Dialogues, Devin Henry
A Sharp Eye For Kinds: Collection & Division In Plato's Late Dialogues, Devin Henry
Devin Henry
No abstract provided.
Aristotle And The Unity And Diversity Of Life (Project Description), Devin Henry
Aristotle And The Unity And Diversity Of Life (Project Description), Devin Henry
Devin Henry
No abstract provided.
Aristotle’S Pluralistic Realism, Devin Henry
Aristotle’S Pluralistic Realism, Devin Henry
Devin Henry
In this paper I explore Aristotle’s views on natural kinds and the compatibility of pluralism and realism, a topic that has generated considerable interest among contemporary philosophers. I argue that, when it came to zoology, Aristotle denied that there is only one way of organizing the diversity of the living world into natural kinds that will yield a single, unified system of classification. Instead, living things can be grouped and regrouped into various cross-cutting kinds on the basis of objective similarities and differences in ways that subserve the explanatory context. Since the explanatory aims of zoology are diverse and variegated, …