Organon F
Volume 31, August 2024, Issue 3, Pages 232–277
ISSN 2585-7150 (online) ISSN 1335-0668 (print)
Research Article
Multiple Realizability and Disjunction for the Special Sciences
Roque Molina Marchese
One way to secure the autonomy of special sciences like psychology is to block reductive strategies by assuming that higher-order properties in psychology are multiply realizable. Multiple realizability would then secure both metaphysical irreducibility and dependency by exploring the variety of ways in which higher-order phenomena can be realized in different systems. Originally, a promising way to understand this variability was in terms of the possible realization role played by property disjunction. However, the non-projectability of disjunctive predicates into explanatory generalizations undermines the multiple realizability strategy mainly because a condition for these generalizations to have scientific weight is that they be based on the existence of natural kinds. Traditionally, disjunctive properties have no reference to kinds. In this paper I explore the character of disjunctive properties as cases of homeostatic property clusters sufficient to be classified as genuine natural kinds, and the consequences for the question of the autonomy of the special sciences.
Disjunctive properties; homeostatic property clusters; multiple realizability; natural kinds; realization; special sciences.
Author
Roque Molina Marchese
Affiliation
Charles University and University of Skövde
Address
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Charles University, nám. Jana Palacha 2, 116 38 Prague 1, Czech Republic
Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, University of Skövde, Högskolevägen, Box 408, 541 28 Skövde, Sweden
Received
16 November 2023
Accepted
8 July 2024
Publishers
Institute of Philosophy of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
APA
Molina Marchese, R. (2024). Multiple Realizability and Disjunction for the Special Sciences. Organon F, 31(3), 232–277. https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2024.31303
Chicago
Molina Marchese, Roque. 2024. "Multiple Realizability and Disjunction for the Special Sciences." Organon F 31 (3): 232–277. https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2024.31303
Harvard
Molina Marchese, R. (2024). Multiple Realizability and Disjunction for the Special Sciences. Organon F, 31(3), pp. 232–277. https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2024.31303
© Roque Molina Marchese
https://www.sav.sk/?lang=sk&doc=journal-list&part=article_response_page&journal_article_no=35029
The above URL is linked to the article's response page. The response page is a permanent location associated with the article's DOI number.
