Believing a category is a natural kind licenses strong inferences and immutability.

Evidence

If people believe that a category is a natural kind, then two important principles follow. First, a natural category affords inductive potential; that is, one can infer a lot about members of the category because such things are true of all members. When people see a robin sitting on a branch, they can assume certain things about it (e.g., it can fly, eats worms, chirps, etc.). Such inductive potential is greater for natural kinds than for artifactual categories. Second, membership in a natural kind is unalterable. A robin is a robin, and no amount of blue spray-paint will transform it into a bluebird. In contrast, the fundamental “nature” of an artifactual category object can be changed, for the simple reason that it has no underlying essence (apart from its function). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1387

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the two load-bearing consequences of perceiving a category as a natural kind: inductive potential and unalterability.