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arXiv · 2510.09069

Two Types of Natural Kind Discovery: Nobel Meets Kuhn

Samuel Schindler
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Abstract

Philosophers have spilled much ink over the discovery of ideas in the classical 'context of discovery'. However, there has been little engagement with the question of what constitutes a discovery of 'things in the world'. A much-overlooked answer to this question is provided by T.S. Kuhn. In this paper, I show that discoveries awarded with a Nobel Prize in Physics in the past 53 years accord with a basic premise of Kuhn's account and his distinction between two types of natural kind discoveries. I also draw normative conclusions for credit attribution in science.

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BibTeXRIS

Samuel Schindler. 2025-10-10. Two Types of Natural Kind Discovery: Nobel Meets Kuhn. https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2025.10181

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