What the Study of Psychological Essentialism May Reveal about the Natural World
This chapter argues that human conceptual biases can shed light on metaphysical matters. Experimental studies of psychological essentialism reveal persistent biases and distortions starting in childhood and continuing through to adulthood. These biases include underestimating variability within a kind, viewing category boundaries as objectively correct, and assuming a causal essence shared among members of a kind. These assumptions clash with scientific discoveries post-Darwin, thus constituting a deflationary account of essentialism as a theory of how the world is structured. Further, given the reach and persistence of essentialist biases in human reasoning, even the categories of scientists may fall prey to these same errors. Ironically, the realism embedded in essentialism may pose one of the biggest obstacles to achieving a direct perspective on the natural world.