The New Riddle of Induction and Natural Kind Terms

Abstract

This paper intends to show the tight link between the question of fixation of extension of natural kind terms and the problem of projectibility pointed out by Goodman's new riddle of induction. I will argue that, on the one hand, the new riddle of induction enables us to show that Putnam's theory of reference has a Fregean element. On the other, I will point out that a realist answer to the new riddle must be articulated with an epistemological thesis about our knowledge of pretended intrinsic properties of objects.