The Special Science Dilemma and How Culture Solves It

Godman, Marion

doi:10.1080/00048402.2014.987149

Cited by 68 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…But consciously designed items like these are not the only Historical Kinds. Various types of social category can also be seen in this light: the many beliefs and behaviors characteristic of Christians, say, or molecular biologists, or Japanese women, are arguably shared because they are copied from prior models (see Godman 2015, 2018; Ásta 2018). In addition, as we now argue, biological taxa are also Historical Kinds.…”

Section: Historical and Eternal Kindsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus biologists typically attach more weight to homologies between traits with a common ancestry than to analogies resulting from common evolutionary pressures(Brigandt and Griffiths 2007;Godman 2015). 6 Perhaps artefacts (like cars, as opposed to makes and models like Vauxhall and Zafira) also form Kinds, with their common features stemming from the shared intentions of their makers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 5 Thus biologists typically attach more weight to homologies between traits with a common ancestry than to analogies resulting from common evolutionary pressures (Brigandt and Griffiths 2007; Godman 2015). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Essential Properties Are Super-Explanatory: Taming Metaphysical Modality

Godman¹,

Mallozzi²,

Papineau

2020

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

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This article aims to build a bridge between two areas of philosophical research: the structure of kinds and metaphysical modality. Our central thesis is that kinds typically involve super-explanatory properties, and that these properties are therefore metaphysically essential to natural kinds. Philosophers of science who work on kinds tend to emphasize their complexity, and are generally resistant to any suggestion that they have essences. The complexities are real enough, but they should not be allowed to obscure the way that kinds are typically unified by certain core properties. We show how this unifying role offers a natural account of why certain properties are metaphysically essential to kinds.

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Section: Historical and Eternal Kindsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Essential Properties Are Super-Explanatory: Taming Metaphysical Modality

Godman¹,

Mallozzi²,

Papineau

2020

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

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“…There multiple properties can be associated with a certain Kind even though none of them essentially belong to it (see e.g. Boyd 1991 ; Millikan 1999 , Godman 2015 ). Still these non-essential properties belonging to a Kind matter for the (social) sciences as they have inductive potential—and are thereby also useful in interventions that affect social and political change.…”

Section: Sex Gender and The Representation Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender as a historical kind: a tale of two genders?

Godman

2018

Biol Philos

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Is there anything that members of each binary category of gender have in common? Even many non-essentialists find the lack of unity within a gender worrying as it undermines the basis for a common political agenda for women. One promising proposal for achieving unity is by means of a shared historical lineage of cultural reproduction with past binary models of gender (e.g. Bach in Ethics 122:231–272, 2012). I demonstrate how such an account is likely to take on board different binary and also non-binary systems of gender. This implies that all individuals construed as members of the category, “women” are in fact not members of the same historical kind after all! I then consider different possible means of modifying the account but conclude negatively: the problem runs deeper than has been appreciated thus far.

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“…The fact that many of these syndromes are typically only partially manifest in behavior of the models does lend support for the idea that scaffolded learning by means of narratives and so on would be required to bolster the successful transmission of the complete model and beliefs attached to cultural syndromes (see Godman, 2015). 3 This also seems to be one of the themes of Ian Hacking's account of transient mental illness that emphasizes the role of individuals interacting with certain labels and beliefs about themselves in a cultural niche as contributing to the spread and changing nature of disorders (Hacking, 1998).…”

Section: Social Learning Of Cultural Syndromesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural syndromes: Socially learned but real

Godman

2016

Filosofia Unisinos

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While some of mental disorders due to emotional distress occur cross-culturally, others seem to be much more bound to particular cultures. In this paper, I propose that many of these "cultural syndromes" are culturally sanctioned responses to overwhelming negative emotions. I show how tools from cultural evolution theory can be employed for understanding how the syndromes are relatively confined to and retained within particular cultures. Finally, I argue that such an account allows for some cultural syndromes to be or become mental disorders and also steers clear of some of the anti-realist trappings associated with a social constructivism of cultural syndromes. Keywords: cultural syndromes, mental disorders, emotional distress, cultural evolution, social learning, social constructivism. RESUMOEnquanto alguns transtornos mentais devidos a problemas emocionais se manifestam através de diferentes culturas, outros parecem ser muito mais circunscritos a culturas específi-cas. Nesse artigo, proponho que muitas dessas "síndromes culturais" são respostas culturalmente sancionadas a emoções avassaladoramente negativas. Mostro como ferramentas da teoria da evolução cultural podem ser empregadas para compreendermos como certas síndromes podem ser relativamente confinadas a culturas específicas. Finalmente, argumento que tal explicação também evita algumas das armadilhas antirrealistas associadas ao construtivismo social sobre síndromes culturais. Palavras-chave: síndromes culturais, transtornos mentais, angústia emocional, evolução cultural, aprendizagem social, construtivismo social.

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The Special Science Dilemma and How Culture Solves It

Cited by 68 publications

References 40 publications

Essential Properties Are Super-Explanatory: Taming Metaphysical Modality

Essential Properties Are Super-Explanatory: Taming Metaphysical Modality

Gender as a historical kind: a tale of two genders?

Cultural syndromes: Socially learned but real

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