How Classification Works: Nelson Goodman Among the Social Sciences

"How Classification Works" attempts to bridge the gap between philosophy and the social sciences using as a focus some of the work of Nelson Goodman. Throughout his long career Goodman has addressed the question: are some ways of conceptualizing more "natural" than others? This book looks at the "rightness of categories", assessing Goodman's role in modern philosophy and explaining some of his ideas on the relation between aesthetics and cognitive theory. Two papers by Nelson Goodman are included in the collection and there are analyses of his work by seven leading academics in anthropology, philosophy, sociology and musicology. This book should be of interest to students, academics and researchers in philosophy, cognitive science in sociology, anthropology and the philosophy of science.