The Explanatory Value of Historical Classifications

The Explanatory Value of Historical Classifications

Classifying entities into natural kinds is usually assumed to explain why members share certain properties. In contrast, historical classifications are generally taken to explain how a grouping came about. This paper investigates whether certain historical categories, defined both by historical and shared current properties, can also serve an explanatory role of the sort typically attributed to natural kinds. I explore this issue using the case study of gene families. Genes descended from a common ancestor belonging to the same gene family typically retain similar sequences and functions. However, it is by knowing the history and features of other family members, and not by sequence alone, that we can infer the likely role of a given gene within the family. Understanding the evolutionary history of a gene family is essential both for anticipating how its members will behave and for explaining why they do so in particular ways. I argue that, in such cases, historical information delivers insights into causal constraints and possibilities that synchronic properties alone cannot offer. In this way, historical classifications yield explanations of the sort typically attributed to natural kinds.

Short bio

Zdenka Brzović is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Rijeka. She read philosophy and history of art for her BA at the University of Rijeka, completed her MA in philosophy at the Central European University in Budapest, and received her PhD in philosophy from the University of Rijeka. Her research is in the philosophy of science, with a special interest in the philosophy of biology, focusing on natural kinds and the notion of biological function. Her work has appeared in journals such as Biology & Philosophy, European Journal for Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Synthese, and others. She co-authored the open-access book "Functions and Evolution: Old and New Controversies", published in Croatian by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka Press. The book received the 2024 award from the Institute of Philosophy (Zagreb, Croatia) for the best philosophy book by Croatian authors. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge.

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