Words, Species, and Kinds

Abstract

It has been widely argued that words are analogous to species such that words, like species, are natural kinds. In this paper, I consider the metaphysics of word-kinds. After arguing against an essentialist approach, I argue that word-kinds are homeostatic property clusters, in line with the dominant approach to other biological and psychological kinds.

Keywords

• words
• homeostatic property clusters
• essentialism
• kinds
• metaphysics of language