Contextual Assumptions and Interests in Ontology : Putnam’s Legacy in Recent Applications

Contemporary research in philosophical ontology has adopted innovative methods to uncover the hidden metaphysical and pragmatic presuppositions underlying scientific taxonomies and classifications. This approach highlights how contextual assumptions influence the formal frameworks of our theories, including the identification of relevant properties for defining objects within a domain, echoing Hilary Putnam's thesis that the identity of objects depends on the context in which they are referred to. Recent studies acknowledge that classification systems may recognize taxa as natural in different respects, shaped by the intentions and goals of the classifier. Rooted in a pragmatic approach, this perspective links the principles of categorization to psychological, anthropological, and cultural dimensions of human knowledge. Here we test this approach in two case studies: (1) questioning metaphysical and ontological assumptions behind concepts like kinds and similarity in cosmology, and (2) examining the role of relevant properties in defining diseases and patient types within biomedical sciences. These applications prove Putnam's legacy in contemporary ontology and illuminate the complex interplay between science, context, and pragmatic interests in shaping our understanding of data.