EGENIS seminar: "How to Incorporate Non-Epistemic Values in a Theory of Classification", Marc Ereshefsky (University of Calgary)

Non-epistemic values play important roles in scientific classificatory practice, such that philosophical accounts of kinds and classification should be able to accommodate them. However, available accounts fail to do so. I aim to fill this lacuna by showing how non-epistemic values feature in scientific classification, and how they can be incorporated into a philosophical theory of classification and kinds. To achieve this, I present a novel account of kinds and classification (the Grounded Functionality Account), discuss examples from biological classification where non-epistemic values play decisive roles, and show how this account accommodates the role of non-epistemic values.