Multiple Realizability, Qualia and Natural Kinds

Andrew Bailey
Philosophy Department
University of Guelph
Canada

This paper addresses the question: are qualia natural kinds? I raise the prospect that the phenomenon of multiple realizability is a prima facie obstacle to natural kindhood -or at least membership in a natural physical kind - because it shows that the similarities among certain 'manifest' kinds are not supported by underlying, scientifically interesting commonalities. I draw upon recent work by John Heil, Stephen Yablo and others to suggest that the phenomenon of multiple realizability is best understood as a version of the determinable/determinate relation, and use this model to explore and defend the notion that qualia -phenomenal kinds- might properly be treated as scientifically respectable causally active natural kinds.