G.o.d Musical style and themes What is the group's musical style? known primarily for R&B, g.o.d has often displayed their versatility as their albums feature songs which combine elements of different genres
What kinds of elements do they use?
What kinds of elements do G.o.d use?
Although known primarily for R&B, g.o.d has often displayed their versatility as their albums feature songs which combine elements of different genres such as hip hop, rap, funk and dance pop: their debut single "To Mother" (eomeonimgge) contains elements of hip hop and a refrain sung in R&B style, the upbeat and rhythmic "Friday Night" from the second album heavily features funk elements and the ballad "The Story of Our Lives" from the most recent album utilizes a "duet" of the rap and singing parts in the chorus to create a polyphonic texture. Park Joon-hyung has stated that from the beginning he had intended for the group to effectively combine Western and Asian influences into their music. They were one of the few first generation K-pop groups to successfully incorporate elements of African American genres such as rap and hip hop into their music and utilize lines rapped entirely in Korean, which was uncommon at that time. While each song differs in genre, a key characteristic is a prominently distinct and simple melody which is accompanied by a minimalistic piano, guitar or percussion-based groove. Their overall style has been described as a mixture of "belting styles" with "gentle rap, candid lyrics and plain vocal narration". Their ability to seamlessly transition between rap and R&B is apparent in their hit songs, most of which are classified as R&B ballads or pop but contain at least several lines that are rapped. This combination of a prominent lyrical melody and rap has been described as their "signature". Some songs feature a spoken narration to introduce the song. They have shied away from trending genres such as bubblegum pop and electronic music. In contrast to their contemporaries such as Shinhwa, H.O.T. and Sechs Kies whose repertoire was largely either "feel-good" or hard rock or was choreography-based, g.o.d was focused on lyrical content, garnering them a wider demographic of fans. The trademark features of their repertoire are the "story telling" style and subject matter of their lyrics. MTV Asia describes their songs as "[leaning] towards the social commentary side, with heartfelt lyrics that make people cry until today." Their songs often reflected relatable themes such as love, loss and family or were based on their personal experiences: their debut single "To Mother" was partly based on leader Park Joon-hyung's childhood while "The Story of Five Men" (daseos namja iyagi) described their frugal living conditions during their first year as struggling young singers. Other songs are more humorous and parodied the members themselves, such as the self-composed "Sky Blue Balloon" (haneulsaeg pungseon), in which rapper Danny Ahn refers to himself by his nickname Skinny Pig. Critics and media have noted the group's unique blend of five distinctly different voices. Mnet's Legends 100 series noted that "[The] synergy created by these five people began a page of popular music history that has never been seen before." CANNOTANSWER
Their overall style has been described as a mixture of "belting styles" with "gentle rap, candid lyrics and plain vocal narration".
Groove Over Dose, known by the acronym g.o.d (), is a South Korean boy band formed by SidusHQ. Debuting in 1999, the group became one of the most popular boy bands of the early 2000s in South Korea. The members had gone on to solo careers in the entertainment industry after indefinitely discontinuing group activity in 2005 following the departure of a member. However, they regrouped as a quintet and made a comeback in July 2014. Although the group is largely known for their "story telling" lyrical style and signature blend of R&B and rap, their repertoire features a diverse array of genres ranging from hip hop to funk.

As one of the best-selling artists in South Korea prior to the digital era, they are one of the few idol groups to have more than one album become a "million seller". Often referred to as "the nation's idol" due to the broad popular appeal of their hit songs, they are regarded as "legends of K-pop" alongside first generation idol groups Shinhwa, H.O.T, Sechs Kies, Fin.K.L, and S.E.S.

Due to their extended hiatus and lack of overseas promotions, their popularity and fame has been largely limited to the domestic market or within the Korean diaspora overseas. However, their songs remain some of the most recognized and well-known within South Korea and their hits such as "To Mother", "Road" and "One Candle" are considered classic Korean language songs.

History

Beginnings 
In 1997, Park Joon-hyung flew to South Korea with the goal of creating a group which blended Western and Asian influences. He recruited his cousin Danny Ahn and the latter's friend Son Ho-young, Yoon Kye-sang and Kim Sun-a were later recruited through auditions. Their formation was fraught with difficulties from the beginning as their talent management company EBM (which merged into Sidus and again split to become iHQ (SidusHQ) in 2005) had been affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and was forced to cut financial funding for its trainees. After over a year, executives allowed them to continue with the project due to their persistence and introduced singer-songwriter and JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young to be their producer and mentor. Kim Sun-a left to pursue acting and Kim Tae-woo, who was still a high school student, was the final member added, joining the group in July 1998. The group was to be called "GOT6", but their name was changed to g.o.d (Groove Over Dose) instead when it became a five-member boy band; Park Jin-young has since revealed that GOT7's group name originated from GOT6.

1999: Debut
The group made their debut appearance on January 13, 1999, performing "To Mother" (어머님께), the title track of their first album, live on the SBS late night show One Night of TV Entertainment (ko). The music video for the song featured actor Jang Hyuk. Although it has since become one of their most famous songs, the initial televised performance did not earn a positive response from those in the music industry. g.o.d also gained attention for their "boys next door" persona and vocal talent, a stark contrast to the trend of the era which was largely focused on groups with visually appealing members and highly sophisticated and energetic choreography. They released their second album at the end of the year and it garnered a much better response and also earned the group their first ever #1 win on a music program.

2000–2006: Mainstream success, Kye-sang's departure, and hiatus
In January 2000, the five members appeared in a reality TV series, called g.o.d's Baby Diaries (ko), which aired as a segment of MBC's "Achieve the Goal Saturday" (ko) weekend program. The members acted as a family to take care of an eleventh-month old boy named Han Jae-min. Every one of them had a duty (i.e. Son Ho Young acted as 'mommy' and Park Joon Hyung as 'daddy'). The show was popular due to the fact that it was the first time an idol group had starred in their own reality show and its high ratings reportedly forced the sketch comedy show Gag Concert, which aired at the same time on MBC's competitor broadcaster KBS, to switch time slots.

Just a year after debuting, g.o.d saw success with the release of their third album, which sold over a million copies. Its promoted track "Lies" (거짓말) dominated the #1 spot on music programs and also won the Daesang ("Grand Prize") at the KBS Music Awards. Following the success of their third album, g.o.d held their first national tour beginning in February 2001 and became only the second K-pop group (after H.O.T.) to hold a concert in the largest sports venue in South Korea, the Seoul Olympic Stadium. In November that year, g.o.d launched their fourth album Chapter 4, their second album to hit a million in sales. The title track "Road" (길) topped the rankings on several music shows and has since become a classic hit. The album won the Disk Daesang (Grand Prize) at the 16th Golden Disc Awards. Additionally, the group achieved a rare feat by sweeping the Daesang awards at the respective year-end music awards run by the country's three major broadcasting stations KBS, SBS and MBC.

The group nearly broke up in September 2001 after Park was discovered to be dating, which was considered to be taboo for most pop stars in South Korea at that time. Their management announced, without informing him or the other group members, that he was to leave the group and g.o.d would continue as a quartet. It was met with strong objection from fans, who repeatedly signed petitions, threatened to boycott concerts and stated their intentions of returning purchased merchandise for refunds. Ahn, Yoon, Son and Kim held their own press conference, without the knowledge of their management, to show their support for Park. By November, their management eventually backed down.

Having established themselves as the country's best selling idol group of 2001, g.o.d was invited to perform at the inaugural MTV Asia Awards held in Singapore as the Korean representative and was nominated for the Favorite Artist Award (Korea). While in Singapore, the group was interviewed by Time magazine and featured on the cover of the Asian edition for July 29. However, the article they were featured in was met with criticism by Korean music critics, local media and g.o.d's management agency SidusHQ as the author used a misquote attributed to Yoon Kye-sang to segue into an opinion editorial about corruption within the K-pop industry rather than focus on g.o.d as one of the country's most popular pop groups. They were chosen as the country's representative artistes to be featured in the 2002 FIFA World Cup official album Fever Pitch, for which they recorded the song "True East Side". In July they took a break from television promotions and began their "100-day Human Concert" series where all the shows were sold out and each day had a different theme.

Yoon left the group in 2004 and g.o.d switched to JYP Entertainment after their group contract with SidusHQ expired. They continued promoting as a quartet, releasing another two more albums. They went on hiatus from 2006 after holding their last concert in December 2005. Various media outlets and sources have described them as having disbanded between 2006 and 2014. However, the remaining members stated that they chose not use the term "disbanding" as they had promised fans they would reunite as a five-piece at some point in the future. All members remained in the entertainment industry: Park returned to the United States to pursue acting, Ahn hosted KBS Cool FM's Kiss the Radio while Son and Kim continued as singers and musical actors. The remaining four members unofficially reunited to perform in 2012 at the Korean Music Festival in Los Angeles and on SBS MTV's The Stage Big Pleasure.

2014–present: Reunion
Beginning in 2013 there was already speculation that the members of g.o.d were discussing the possibility of reuniting. Following Yoon Kye-sang's confirmation to rejoin the group and lengthy discussion and organization with the members' individual managements, they recommenced group activities under their original management agency SidusHQ. On May 3, 2014 their 15th anniversary concert was announced through a TV advertisement which aired on Korean cable channel jTBC, followed by confirmation from their management agency. Despite the low-key announcement and the group's refusal to promote on music programs, their comeback received extensive media coverage and became a trending topic on the internet within South Korea as they were the first inactive K-pop idol group to make a comeback with all of its original members.

The album Chapter 8 was released on July 8, 2014. Several songs were pre-released as teasers for their official comeback tour. The pre-released singles, "The Lone Duckling" (also "The Ugly Duckling") (미운 오리 새끼) and "Sky Blue Promise" (하늘색 약속), both achieved "all kills" in the digital charts. The music videos for "Saturday Night", which contained references of their hit "Friday Night", and the ballad "Story of Our Lives" were uploaded on YouTube. The album was repackaged and released in October as the "Thank You" edition and included a new song "Wind" (바람), whose lyrics were written by Yoon to express his gratitude to fans.

The group began their 15th anniversary tour on July 12, 2014 at Jamsil Sports Complex with around 14,000 fans in attendance. It was their first concert as a quintet in 12 years. Initially they had planned to hold two concerts over two days in Seoul but extended it to eight more dates in four other cities due to popular demand. They also made their first televised performance together in 12 years on September 5 as exclusive guests on You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook, the only guests who have been granted the honor. They concluded their national tour with an encore concert in October at the 40,000-capacity Seoul Olympic Stadium, the second time they have held a sold-out concert at the venue. In November they extended their tour overseas for the time, holding concerts at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and became the first single South Korean group to play at stadiums in the United States since BIGBANG (Alive Galaxy Tour).

The group made a rare live televised performance as a quintet, performing at the "I Am Korea" Gala Concert celebrating 70 years of independence which was broadcast live on KBS1. On December 9, 2015, they released the maxi single "A Funny but Sad Day" (웃픈 하루) and the music video was uploaded by CJ E&M in anticipation of their upcoming year-end concerts. Although the group did not promote the song at all, it was the top 30 most downloaded singles that month and remained in the Gaon Digital Chart for six consecutive weeks. They held a series of sold-out concerts in Seoul over five days before heading to Daegu and Busan to celebrate the Christmas holidays and New Year's Day with fans. They took a break in 2016 while the members returned to their solo activities.

For the first two months of 2017 g.o.d embarked on their second nationwide tour since reuniting. Entitled g.o.d to MEN the tour began in Seoul and went to five other major cities. The Incheon concert on January 13 was extended by several hours as it coincided with the 18th anniversary of their debut and culminated in a special fan event hosted by DinDin.

On September 19, 2018, jTBC released a trailer of Shall We Walk Together (같이걸을까), a 10-episode travel variety-reality show which documented the members' trip to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. It began airing on October 11, as part of a series of projects to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut. On November 27, they released the single "Snowfall" (눈이 내린다) to little fanfare and it debuted at #63 on the Gaon Digital Chart that week with over 9 million downloads and streams despite intense competition from their much younger counterparts. From November 30 to December 2 they held a series of concerts entitled "Greatest" at the KSPO Dome before playing in Busan and Daegu on December 22 and 25 respectively. In a positive review, the Kukmin Ilbo noted that the concerts were appropriately named as g.o.d was one of the few K-pop groups who could put together a full set list consisting almost exclusively of number 1 songs, with 17 out of 20 songs in the set list being number 1 hits on South Korean music programs. On January 10, 2019, the album Then & Now was released. It contains a mixture of new original material, including a title track composed by Park Jin-young, remixed and re-recorded songs from previous albums. On January 13 they held the last of their anniversary concerts, playing to a sold-out crowd at the KSPO Dome.

Members 
 Park Joon-hyung (박준형) – rap, leader
 Yoon Kye-sang (윤계상) – vocals
 Danny Ahn (데니 안) – rap
 Son Ho-young (손호영) – lead vocals, rap
 Kim Tae-woo (김태우) – main vocals

Discography

Chapter 1 (1999)
Chapter 2 (1999)
Chapter 3 (2000)
Chapter 4 (2001) 
Chapter 5: Letter (2002)
An Ordinary Day (2004)
Into the Sky (2005)
Chapter 8 (2014)
Then & Now (2019)

Concerts

Awards

Artistry

Musical style and themes 
Although known primarily for R&B, g.o.d has often displayed their versatility as their albums feature songs which combine elements of different genres such as hip hop, rap, funk and dance pop: their debut single "To Mother" (어머님께) contains elements of hip hop and a refrain sung in R&B style, the upbeat and rhythmic "Friday Night" from the second album heavily features funk elements and the ballad "The Story of Our Lives" from the most recent album utilizes a "duet" of the rap and singing parts in the chorus to create a polyphonic texture. Park Joon-hyung has stated that from the beginning he had intended for the group to effectively combine Western and Asian influences into their music. They were one of the few first generation K-pop groups to successfully incorporate elements of African American genres such as rap and hip hop into their music and utilize lines rapped entirely in Korean, which was uncommon at that time. While each song differs in genre, a key characteristic is a prominently distinct and simple melody which is accompanied by a minimalistic piano, guitar or percussion-based groove. Their overall style has been described as a mixture of "belting styles" with "gentle rap, candid lyrics and plain vocal narration". Their ability to seamlessly transition between rap and R&B is apparent in their hit songs, most of which are classified as R&B ballads or pop but contain at least several lines that are rapped. This combination of a prominent lyrical melody and rap has been described as their "signature". Some songs feature a spoken narration to introduce the song. They have shied away from trending genres such as bubblegum pop and electronic music.

In contrast to their contemporaries such as Shinhwa, H.O.T. and Sechs Kies whose repertoire was largely either "feel-good" or hard rock or was choreography-based, g.o.d was focused on lyrical content, garnering them a wider demographic of fans. The trademark features of their repertoire are the "story telling" style and subject matter of their lyrics. MTV Asia describes their songs as "[leaning] towards the social commentary side, with heartfelt lyrics that make people cry until today." Their songs often reflected relatable themes such as love, loss and family or were based on their personal experiences: their debut single "To Mother" was partly based on leader Park Joon-hyung's childhood while "The Story of Five Men" (다섯 남자 이야기) described their frugal living conditions during their first year as struggling young singers. Other songs are more humorous and parodied the members themselves, such as the self-composed "Sky Blue Balloon" (하늘색 풍선), in which rapper Danny Ahn refers to himself by his nickname Skinny Pig.

Critics and media have noted the group's unique blend of five distinctly different voices. Mnet's Legends 100 series noted that "[The] synergy created by these five people began a page of popular music history that has never been seen before."

Image 

Along with Shinhwa, g.o.d was the earliest idol group to adopt a more public-friendly approach towards fans, transitioning away from the mysterious and intensely private personas of earlier groups H.O.T. and Sechs Kies. As a vocally-focused group, g.o.d did not adopt any image or concept aimed at a particular age demographic unlike most idol groups at that time which were pitched as teen idols and it further added to their "everyman" persona and solidified their nickname "the nation's group". Likewise, they have refrained from colorful and elaborate stage costumes or complex choreography, preferring to utilize themes and simple dance routines to allow members to directly engage with the audience.

Stage 
g.o.d is the first K-pop idol group to hold one hundred concerts, a feat they achieved during the "100-day Human Concert" series in 2002 and 2003. They gained popularity and acclaim as consummate entertainers for their stage presence and humorously casual style, often presiding over their concerts themselves. The group is noted within the industry for their interactive approach towards fans during concerts, which often feature segments such as taking song requests or teaching the audience a dance move. Critics have described their concerts as "a giant noraebang" due to the group's large number of recognizable hit songs.

Since their early days, g.o.d's concerts have revolved around specific themes. Their first national tour was entitled "The Story of Five Men", a reference to the eponymous song from their second album chronicling the austere conditions they endured while preparing to debut. The "100-day Human Concert" series notably featured a different theme for each concert. After reuniting in 2014, the group has been more experimental, revising their choreography and the instrumentation of their background tracks several times. Their most recent national tour in January and February 2017, entitled "g.o.d to MEN", was designed and choreographed as a Broadway musical. Lee Mi-hyun of the JoongAng Ilbo, in reviewing the Seoul leg of the tour, praised the group for their ability to entertain and reinvent themselves without compromising their artistic integrity or losing their unique sound.

Legacy 

g.o.d was the first boy band to be dubbed "the nation's group" (), a sobriquet popularized by the media and cultural commentators due to their appeal to not only the teenage demographic, but across a much broader age demographic compared to their contemporaries. In contrast to their contemporaries, who were primarily targeting a teenage audience, they were known as the boy band which "appealed to both teenagers and their parents" and "rose beyond its status as an idol group to be loved by people of all ages." Cultural commentators have noted that the subject matter of their debut song "To Mother" and other songs such as "One Candle" and "Road" further contributed to their broad popular appeal as the country was transitioning out of difficult times and was still recovering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis when the group debuted. They are the first idol group to star in their own reality show, g.o.d's Baby Diaries, beginning a trend of idol singers and other entertainers participating in similar shows such as Hello Baby and The Return of Superman.

g.o.d set a number of records in sales figures. They currently hold the record for the highest-selling album (not including a repackaged version) within a single month – their fourth album Chapter 4 (released in November 2001) sold 1,441,209 copies within a month of its release – and was the only K-pop group to have the sales figures of an album surpass the 1.2 million mark within that time frame until BTS accomplished the same feat in 2017 with the album Love Yourself: Her. They are the most recent K-pop group to sell over a million physical copies of a full album and the last group to do so prior to the establishment of digital music stores, having sold over 1.7 million copies of Chapter 4, before EXO reached the milestone in 2013.

The enduring popularity and cross-generational appeal of their songs and their success has influenced many K-pop idol singers of the new generation, such as R&B quartet 2AM, boy band B1A4, girl group Twice and chart-topping solo artist IU, who have all cited g.o.d as industry "role models" and "inspirations". Widely acknowledged within the Korean music industry as "legends of K-pop", g.o.d is the only guest to perform on You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook as exclusive guests and the first K-pop group to be the featured legend on Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend. In 2013 the group was selected and featured in Legend 100 – Artists, a Mnet documentary series highlighting 100 legendary Korean artists (both solo artists and groups) active from 1933 to 2002 selected by a panel of fifty professors, music critics and other music professionals for their contributions and achievements. According to a 2016 poll conducted by The Dong-a Ilbo in which thirty music industry experts and nearly 2,000 citizens voted for the top 15 greatest male K-pop idol groups of the past twenty years, g.o.d was ranked third by the public and fifth by the panel of experts. Of the inactive or disbanded first-generation groups, g.o.d was the first to make a comeback and still attain success in a highly saturated market in spite of a nearly decade-long hiatus, which commentators have attributed to the overall increased interest in music and games popular during the 1980s and 1990s as well as the fact that the basis of their popularity had been centered on their vocal abilities and the lyrical content of their songs.

In contrast to the industry norm for group and all members' individual contracts to be managed by a single company, g.o.d's contractual arrangement was considered groundbreaking for its time as the contracts of the group and each individual member were managed by two different companies. They were managed by and the trademark of their group name is still owned by EBM (now SidusHQ), but individual contracts were managed separately: the individual contracts of the original four members (Park Joon-hyung, Yoon Kye-sang, Danny Ahn and Son Ho-young) were initially managed by SidusHQ while Kim Tae-woo was managed by Park Jin-young's label and agency JYP Entertainment. It would set a precedent in the K-pop industry as this arrangement allowed long-running group Shinhwa to continue group activities after leaving S.M. Entertainment and for g.o.d and fellow first-generation idol group Sechs Kies to recommence group activities after a number of years despite all members being managed by different companies and agencies.

In popular culture 
At the time of its release, "To Mother" (어머님께) was the most requested track on radio stations. Other songs, such as "One Candle" (촛불하나), "Love and Remember" (사랑해 그리고 기억해), "Lies" (거짓말) and "Road" (길) are considered "indisputable K-pop classics recognized and enjoyed by Koreans of all ages" and regularly covered on singing competitions and music variety shows. "Sorrow" (애수), from the second album, was featured in the Pump It Up video game series. Their songs have been used as background music on various television dramas and variety shows, including tvN's Reply 1994, KBS's Drama Special and The Return of Superman and many others.

See also 
 List of South Korean idol groups (1990s)
 List of best-selling albums in South Korea

References

External links 
Official YouTube channel
Artist Profile  on Mnet 

 
Grand Prize Golden Disc Award recipients
IHQ (company) artists
JYP Entertainment artists
Melon Music Award winners
Mnet Asian Music Award winners
Musical groups established in 1999
South Korean boy bands
South Korean contemporary R&B musical groups
South Korean dance music groups
South Korean pop music groups
1999 establishments in South Korea
A transitional phrase, in United States patent law, is a phrase that links the preamble of a patent claim to the specific elements set forth in the claim which define what the invention itself actually is. The transitional phrase acts as a limitation on the claim, indicating whether a similar device, method, or composition infringes the patent if it contains more or fewer elements than the claim in the patent.

There are three kinds of transitional phrases: open, closed, and hybrid.

Closed transition
A closed transition usually uses the words "consisting of.” Use of this phrase limits the preamble to exactly what follows and nothing more. An example would be a patent claim for a pencil, which might say in the preamble "a writing device", followed by the closed transition "consisting of", and concluding with a description such as "a cylindrical piece of lead, graphite, or another material similarly capable of leaving a mark when drawn against a surface, and a second surrounding material encasing the first". A third party who sold pencils including both a cylinder of writing material and a casing material, but added to his pencils an eraser fixed to one end, would therefore not be in violation of the patent. Use of such a transition makes it easy for a competitor to compete with the patented product without infringing it, because it allows the competitor to sell a similar device so long as the competitor makes an addition to what is claimed. However, it also may assist the patent owner in avoiding prior art, which might otherwise block the patent from issuing.

Open transition
An open transition usually uses the word "comprises" or "comprising". This is the broadest form of transition, as it does not limit the preamble to whatever elements are identified in the claim. If the above patent used the word "comprising" instead of "consisting of", then the third party's pencil-plus-eraser would be infringing (assuming that the patent is otherwise valid).

Hybrid transition
A third kind of transition, the hybrid transition, uses the phrase "consisting essentially of". The effect of this transitional phrase is to leave the claim "open" to include additional elements, but only if those additional elements do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristics of the claimed combination. In this instance, the pencil with the eraser added might still not be infringing, but a pencil with a fin or a non-functional button would still infringe, because the thing that was added would serve no purpose material to the claimed functions of the pencil. This language assists in avoiding prior art, but is broad enough to capture imperfect attempts to copy the patented device.

See also
 Point of novelty

Sources
 Randall R. Rader, John R. Thomas, Martin J. Adelman, and Harold C. Wegner, Cases and Materials on Patent Law, 2d edition (2002), p. 541–542.

United States patent law
Legal writing "Natural kind" is a label to which scholars have assigned incompatible meanings.  Some treat it as a classification identifying some structure of truth and reality that exists whether or not humans recognize it.  Others treat it as a human classification of knowings that work instrumentally.

Every "kind" is a generalization grouping certain characteristic traits.  It consists of a general class and of individual examples of the class.  As formulated by Aristotle, the essence of every thing humans can know exists as an unconditional abstract kind or species: (1) "all water [kind] is  [trait]"; (2) "All men are mortal"; (3) "All ravens are black."

Today, few scholars endorse Aristotle's formulation, but many continue to suppose that natural kinds are the structure of truth and reality.  They may appear as units of scientific hypotheses, generalizations, and theories.  Identification of their traits appears illogical, since it is practically impossible for inductive reasoning to rest on observation of "all" examples of characteristic traits.  But it appears necessary to draw inductive inferences about kinds after observing a few examples.  Inductive kinds often "work" as predicted—no exceptions to the classification are found—justifying belief in immutable natural kinds

This article presents conflicting meanings of natural kind.  John Dewey held a minority view that belief in unconditional natural kinds is a mistake, a relic of obsolete scientific practices. W. V. O. Quine and Hilary Kornblith held the still-reigning view that natural kinds are the unchanging structure of truth and reality.  Hilary Putnam rejects descriptivist approaches to natural kinds with semantic reasoning.  Hasok Chang and Rasmus Winther hold the emerging view that natural kinds are useful and evolving scientific facts.

John Dewey
In 1938, John Dewey published Logic: The Theory of Inquiry.  He there explained how modern scientists create kinds through induction and deduction, and why they have no use for natural kinds.
The philosophical issue is how humans can dependably predict that unobserved examples of a kind will have the same traits as a few observed examples. The traditional answer grew out of Aristotle's assertion that humans describe things they know in two kinds of propositions.  Existential kinds—known by observing traits—are stated in "generic" propositions.  Conceptual kinds—known by intuitive recognition of groups of traits—are stated in "universal" propositions.

Dewey argued that modern scientists do not follow Aristotle in treating inductive and deductive propositions as facts already known about nature's stable structure.  Today, scientific propositions are intermediate steps in inquiry, hypotheses about processes displaying stable patterns.  Aristotle's generic and universal propositions have become conceptual tools of inquiry warranted by inductive inclusion and exclusion of traits.  They are provisional means rather than results of inquiry revealing the structure of reality.
    Propositions as such are ... provisional, intermediate and instrumental.  Since their subject-matter concerns two kinds of means, material and procedural, they are of two main categories: (1) Existential [generic means, known by induction], referring directly to actual conditions, as determined by experimental observation, and (2) ideational or conceptual [universal means, known by deduction], consisting of interrelated meanings, which are non-existential in content ... but which are applicable to existence through the operations they represent as possibilities.

Modern induction starts with a question to be answered or a problem to be solved.  It identifies problematic subject-matter and seeks potentially relevant traits and conditions.  Generic existential data thus identified are reformulated—stated abstractly as if-then universal relations capable of serving as answers or solutions: If , then water.  For Dewey, induction creates warranted kinds by observing constant conjunction of relevant traits.

    No grounded generic propositions can be formed save as they are the products of the performance of operations indicated as possible by universal propositions.  The problem of inference is, accordingly, to discriminate and conjoin those qualities [kinds] of existential material that serve as distinguishing traits (inclusively and exclusively) of a determinate kind.

Dewey used the example of "morning dew" to describe these abstract steps creating scientific kinds.  From antiquity, the common-sense belief had been that all dew is a kind of rain, meaning dew drops fall.  By the early 1800s the curious absence of rain before dew and the growth of understanding led scientists to examine new traits.  Functional processes changing bodies [kinds] from solid to liquid to gas at different temperatures, and operational constants of conduction and radiation, led to new inductive hypotheses "directly suggested by this subject-matter, not by any data [kinds] previously observable.  ...  There were certain [existential] conditions postulated in the content of the new [non-existential] conception about dew, and it had to be determined whether these conditions were satisfied in the observable facts of the case."

After demonstrating that dew could be formed by these generic existential phenomena, and not by other phenomena, the universal hypothesis arose that dew forms following established laws of temperature and pressure.  "The outstanding conclusion is that inductive procedures are those which prepare existential material so that it has convincing evidential weight with respect to an inferred generalization.  Existential data are not pre-known natural kinds, but become conceptual statements of "natural" processes.
    Objects and qualities [kinds] as they naturally present themselves or as they are "given," are not only not the data of science but constitute the most direct and important obstacles to formation of those ideas and hypotheses that are genuinely relevant and effective.
    We are brought to the conclusion that it is modes of active response which are the ground of generality of logical form, not the existential immediate qualities of that which is responded to.

Dewey concluded that nature is not a collection of natural kinds, but rather of reliable processes discoverable by competent induction and deduction.  He replaced the ambiguous label "natural kind" by "warranted assertion" to emphasize the conditional nature of all human knowings. Assuming kinds to be given unconditional knowings leads to the error of assuming that conceptual universal propositions can serve as evidence for generic propositions; observed consequences affirm unobservable imagined causes.  "For an 'inference' that is not grounded in the evidential nature of the material from which it is drawn is not an inference.  It is a more or less wild guess."  Modern induction is not a guess about natural kinds, but a means to create instrumental understanding.

Willard Van Orman Quine
In 1969, Willard Van Orman Quine brought the term "natural kind" into contemporary analytic philosophy with an essay bearing that title.  His opening paragraph laid out his approach in three parts.  First, it questioned the logical and scientific legitimacy of reasoning inductively by counting a few examples posting traits imputed to all members of a kind: "What tends to confirm an induction?"  For Quine, induction reveals warranted kinds by repeated observation of visible similarities.
Second, it assumed that color can be a characteristic trait of natural kinds, despite some logical puzzles: hypothetical colored kinds such as non-black non-ravens and green-blue emeralds.  Finally, it suggested that human psychological structure can explain the illogical success of induction: "an innate flair that we have for natural kinds.

He started with the logical hypothesis that, if all ravens are black—an observable natural kind—then non-black non-ravens are equally a natural kind: "... each [observed] black raven tends to confirm the law [universal proposition] that all ravens are black ..."  Observing shared generic traits warrants the inductive universal prediction that future experience will confirm the sharing: "And every reasonable [universal] expectation depends on resemblance of [generic] circumstances, together with our tendency to expect similar causes to have similar effects." "The notion of a kind and the notion of similarity or resemblance seem to be variants or adaptations of a single [universal] notion.  Similarity is immediately definable in terms of kind; for things are similar when they are two of a kind."

Quine posited an intuitive human capacity to recognize criteria for judging degrees of similarity among objects, an "innate flair for natural kinds.” These criteria work instrumentally when applied inductively:  "... why does our innate subjective spacing [classification] of [existential] qualities accord so well with the functionally relevant [universal] groupings in nature as to make our inductions tend to come out right?"

He admitted that generalizing after observing a few similarities is scientifically and logically unjustified.  The numbers and degrees of similarities and differences humans experience are infinite.  But the method is justified by its instrumental success in revealing natural kinds.  The "problem of induction" is how humans "should stand better than random or coin-tossing chances of coming out right when we predict by inductions which are based on our innate, scientifically unjustified similarity standards."
    A standard of similarity is in some sense innate.  This point is not against empiricism; it is a commonplace of behavioral psychology.  A response to a red circle, if it is rewarded, will be elicited by a pink eclipse more readily than by a blue triangle; the red circle resembles the pink ellipse more than the blue triangle.  Without some such prior spacing of qualities, we could never acquire a [classification] habit; all stimuli would be equally alike and equally different.

Quine credited human ability to recognize colors as natural kinds to the evolutionary function of color in human survival—distinguishing safe from poisonous kinds of food.  He recognized that modern science often judges color similarities to be superficial, but denied that equating existential similarities with abstract universal similarities makes natural kinds any less permanent and important.  The human brain's capacity to recognize abstract kinds joins the brain's capacity to recognize existential similarities.
    Credit is due to man's inveterate ingenuity, or human sapience, for having worked around the blinding dazzle of color vision and found the more significant regularities elsewhere.  Evidently natural selection has dealt with the conflict [between visible and invisible similarities] by endowing man doubly: with both a color-slanted quality space and the ingenuity to rise above it.    He has risen above it by developing modified systems of kinds, hence modified similarity standards for scientific purposes.  By the [inductive] trial-and-error process of theorizing he has regrouped things into new kinds which prove to lend themselves to many inductions better than the old.
    A man's judgments of similarity do and should depend on his theory [universal propositions], on his beliefs; but similarity itself, what the man's judgments purport to be judgments of, [is] an objective relation in the world.  It belongs in the [generic] subject matter not of our [universal] theory ... about the world, but of our [universal] theory of the [generic] world itself.  Such would be the acceptable and reputable sort of similarity concept, if it could be defined.

Quine argued that the success of innate and learned criteria for classifying kinds on the basis of similarities observed in small samples of kinds, constitutes evidence of the existence of natural kinds; observed consequences affirm imagined causes.  His reasoning continues to provoke philosophical debates.

Hilary Putnam 
In 1975, Hilary Putnam rejected descriptivist ideas about natural kind by elaborating on semantic concepts in language.  Putnam explains his rejection of descriptivist and traditionalist approaches to natural kinds with semantic reasoning, and insists that natural kinds can not be thought of via descriptive processes or creating endless lists of properties.

In Putnam's Twin Earth thought experiment, one is asked to consider the extension of "water" when confronted with an alternate version of "water" on an imagined "Twin Earth." This "water" is composed of chemical XYZ, as opposed to H2O. However, in all other describable aspects, it is the same as Earth’s "water." Putnam argues that the mere descriptions of an object, such as "water," is insufficient in defining natural kind. There are underlying aspects, such as chemical composition, that may go unaccounted for unless experts are consulted. This information provided by experts is what Putnam argues will ultimately define natural kinds.

Putnam calls the essential information used to define natural kind "core facts." This discussion arises in part in response to what he refers to as "Quine’s pessimism" of theory of meaning. Putnam claims that a natural kind can be referred to via its associated stereotype. This stereotype must be a normal member of the category, and is itself defined by core facts as determined by experts,. By conveying these core facts, the essential and appropriate use of natural kind terms can be conveyed.

The process of conveying core facts to communicate the essence and appropriate term of a natural kind term is shown in Putnams example of describing a lemon and a tiger. With a lemon, it is possible to communicate the stimulus-meaning of what a lemon is by simply showing someone a lemon. In the case of a tiger, on the other hand, it is considerably more complicated to show someone a tiger, but a speaker can just as readily explain what a tiger is by communicating its core facts. By conveying the core facts of a tiger (e.g. big cat, four legs, orange, black stripes, etc.), the listener can, in theory, go on to use the word "tiger" correctly and refer to its extension accurately.

Hilary Kornblith
In 1993, Hilary Kornblith published a review of debates about natural kinds since Quine had launched that epistemological project a quarter-century earlier.  He evaluated Quine's "picture of natural knowledge" as natural kinds, along with subsequent refinements.

He found still acceptable Quine's original assumption that discovering knowledge of mind-independent reality depends on inductive generalisations based on limited observations, despite its being illogical.  Equally acceptable was Quine's further assumption that instrumental success of inductive reasoning confirms both the existence of natural kinds and the legitimacy of the method.
    I argue that natural kinds make inductive knowledge of the world possible because the clustering of properties characteristic of natural kinds makes inferences from the presence of some of these properties to the presence of others reliable.  Were it not for the existence of natural kinds and the causal structure they require, any attempt to infer the existence of some properties from the presence of others would be no more than quixotic; reliable inductive inference would be impossible.  The [generic] causal structure of the world as exhibited in [universal] natural kinds thus provides the natural ground of inductive inference.

Quine's assumption of an innate human psychological process—"standard of similarity," "subjective spacing of qualities"—also remained unquestioned.  Kornbluth strengthened this assumption with new labels for the necessary cognitive qualities: "native processes of belief acquisition," "the structure of human conceptual representation," "native inferential processes," "reasonably accurate detectors of covariation." "To my mind, the primary case to be made for the view that our [universal] psychological processes dovetail with the [generic] causal structure of the world comes ... from the success of science.

Kornblith denied that this logic makes human classifications the same as mind-independent classifications: "The categories of modern science, of course, are not innate." But he offered no explanation of how kinds that work conditionally can be distinguished from mind-independent unchanging kinds.
.
    If the scientific categories of mature sciences did not correspond, at least approximately, to real kinds in nature, but instead merely grouped objects together on the basis of salient observable properties which somehow answer to our interests, it would be utterly miraculous that inductions using these scientific categories tend to issue in accurate predictions.  Inductive inference can only work ... if there is something in nature binding together the [generic] properties which we use to identify kinds.  ...  Unobservables [universal propositions] are then postulated to explain the constant conjunction of observable properties.
    We approach the world by presupposing that it contains natural kinds.  Our inferences depend on this presupposition,...  This presupposition thus gives us a built-in advantage in understanding what the world is like, and thereby makes inductive understanding of the world a real possibility.
    When a population [kind] is uniform with respect to some [generic] property, [inductive] inferences from small samples, and indeed, from a single case, are perfectly reliable.  If I note that a [generic] sample of [universal] copper conducts electricity and straightaway conclude that all copper conducts electricity, then I will do just as well as someone ... checking a very large number of copper samples for their conductivity.

Kornblith didn't explain how tedious modern induction accurately generalizes from a few generic traits to all of some universal kind.  He attributed such success to individual sensitivity that a single case is representative of all of a kind.
    If we are sensitive to the situations in which a population is uniform with respect to some property, then making inferences on the basis of very small samples will be a reliable and efficient way to gain information about a population [natural kind].". He argued that even human infants are intuitively sensitive to natural classifications.  :    "From the beginning, children assume that the natural world is divided into kinds on the basis of underlying features which are responsible for their superficial similarities, and that these similarities are an uncertain guide to that real underlying structure."

Accepting intuition as a legitimate ground for inductive inferences from small samples, Kornblith criticized popular arguments by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman that intuition is irrational.  He continued to argue that traditional induction explains the success of modern science.
    Our [universal] conceptual and inferential tendencies jointly conspire, at least roughly, to carve nature at its [generic] joints and project the features of a kind which are essential to it.  This preestablished harmony between the [generic] causal structure of the world and the [universal] conceptual and inferential structure of our minds produces reliable inductive inference.

Hasok Chang and Rasmus Winther
Hasok Chang and Rasmus Winther contributed essays to a collection entitled Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice, published in 2016.  The editor of the collection, Catherine Kendig, argued for a modern meaning of natural kinds, rejecting Aristotelian classifications of objects according to their "essences, laws, sameness relations, fundamental properties ... and how these map out the ontological space of the world."  She thus dropped the traditional supposition that natural kinds exist permanently and independently of human reasoning.  She collected original works examining results of discipline-specific classifications of kinds: "the empirical use of natural kinds and what I dub 'activities of natural kinding' and 'natural kinding practices'."  Her natural kinds include scientific disciplines themselves, each with its own methods of inquiry and classifications or taxonomies..

Chang's contribution displayed Kendig's "natural kinding activities" or "practice turn" by reporting classifications in the mature discipline of chemistry—a field renowned for examples of timeless natural kinds: "All water is H2O;" "All gold has atomic number 79."

He explicitly rejected Quine's basic assumption that natural kinds are real generic objects. "When I speak of a (natural) kind in this chapter, I am referring to a [universal] classificatory concept, rather than a collection of objects."  His kinds result from humanity's continuous knowledge-seeking activities called science and philosophy.  "Putting these notions more unambiguously in terms of concepts rather than objects, I maintain: if we hit upon some stable and effective classificatory concepts in our inquiry, we should cherish them (calling them 'natural kinds' would be one clear way of doing so), but without presuming that we have thereby found some eternal essences.

He also rejected the position taken by Bird and Tobin in our third quote above. "Alexander Bird and Emma Tobin’s succinct characterization of natural kinds is helpful here, as a foil: ‘to say that a kind is natural is to say that it corresponds to a grouping or ordering that does not depend on humans’.  My view is precisely the opposite, to the extent that scientific inquiry does depend on humans."

For Chang, induction creates conditionally warranted kinds by "epistemic iteration"—refining classifications developmentally to reveal how constant conjunctions of relevant traits work: "fundamental classificatory concepts become refined and corrected through our practical scientific engagement with nature. Any considerable and lasting [instrumental] success of such engagement generates confidence in the classificatory concepts used in it, and invites us to consider them as 'natural'."

Among other examples, Chang reported the inductive iterative process by which chemists gradually redefined the kind "element."  The original hypothesis was that anything that cannot be decomposed by fire or acids is an element.  Learning that some chemical reactions are reversible led to the discovery of weight as a constant through reactions.  And then it was discovered that some reactions involve definite and invariable weight ratios, refining understanding of constant traits.  "Attempts to establish and explain the combining-weight regularities led to the development of the chemical atomic theory by John Dalton and others. ... Chemical elements were later redefined in terms of atomic number (the number of protons in the nucleus)."

Chang claimed his examples of classification practices in chemistry confirmed the fallacy of the traditional assumption that natural kinds exist as mind-independent reality.  He attributed this belief more to imagining supernatural intervention in the world, than to illogical induction.  He did not consider the popular belief that innate psychological capacities enable traditional induction to work.  "Much natural-kind talk has been driven by an intuitive metaphysical essentialism that concerns itself with an objective [generic] order of nature whose [universal] knowledge could, ironically, only be obtained by a supernatural being.  Let us renounce such an unnatural notion of natural kinds.  Instead, natural kinds should be conceived as something we humans may succeed in inventing and improving through scientific practice."

Rasmus Winther's Contribution to Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice gave new meaning to natural objects and qualities in the nascent discipline of Geographic Information Science (GIS).  This "inter-discipline" engages in discovering patterns in—and displaying spatial kinds of—data, using methods that make its results unique natural kinds.  But it still creates kinds using induction to identify instrumental traits.

"Collecting and collating geographical data, building geographical data-bases, and engaging in spatial analysis, visualization, and map-making all require organizing, typologizing, and classifying geographic space, objects, relations, and processes.  I focus on the use of natural kinds ..., showing how practices of making and using kinds are contextual, fallible, plural, and purposive.  The rich family of kinds involved in these activities are here baptized mapping kinds."

He later identified sub-kinds of mapping kinds as "calibrating kinds," "feature kinds," and "object kinds" of "data model types."

Winther identified "inferential processes of abstraction and generalization" as methods used by GIS, and explained how they generate digital maps.  He illustrated two kinds of inquiry procedures, with sub-procedures to organize data.  They are reminiscent of Dewey's multiple steps in modern inductive and deductive inference.  Methods for transforming generic phenomena into kinds involve reducing complexity, amplifying, joining, and separating.  Methods for selecting among generic kinds involves elimination, classification, and collapse of data.  He argued that these methods for mapping kinds can be practiced in other disciplines, and briefly considered how they might harmonize three conflicting philosophical perspectives on natural kinds.

Some philosophers believe there can be a "pluralism" of kinds and classifications.  They prefer to speak of "relevant" and "interesting" kinds rather than eternal "natural" kinds.  They may be called social constructivists whose kinds are human products.  Chang's conclusions that natural kinds are human-created and instrumentally useful would appear to put him in this group.

Other philosophers, including Quine, examine the role of kinds in scientific inference. Winther does not examine Quine's commitment to traditional induction generalizing from small samples of similar objects.  But he does accept Quine's willingness to call human-identified kinds that work natural.

"Quine holds that kinds are "functionally relevant groupings in nature" whose recognition permits our inductions to "tend to come out right."  That is, kinds ground fallible inductive inferences and predictions, so essential to scientific projects including those of GIS and cartography."

Finally, Winther identified a philosophical perspective seeking to reconstruct rather than reject belief in natural kinds.  He placed Dewey in this group, ignoring Dewey's rejection of the traditional label in favor of "warranted assertions."

"Dewey resisted the standard view of natural kinds, inherited from the Greeks ...  Instead, Dewey presents an analysis of kinds (and classes and universals) as fallible and context-specific hypotheses permitting us to address problematic situations effectively."
Winther concludes that classification practices used in Geographic Information Science are able to harmonize these conflicting philosophical perspectives on natural kinds.

"GIS and cartography suggest that kinds are simultaneously discovered [as pre-existing structures] and constructed [as human classifications].  Geographic features, processes, and objects are of course real.  Yet we must structure them in our data models and, subsequently, select and transform them in our maps.  Realism and (social) constructivism are hence not exclusive in this field."

See also 
 Fact–value distinction
 Inductive reasoning
 New riddle of induction	
 Instrumentalism
 Instrumental and value rationality
 Social constructivism

References

Footnotes

Sources 

 Andreasen, Robin O. 2005. The Meaning of 'Race': Folk Conceptions and the New Biology of Race. Journal of Philosophy 102(2): 94–106.
 Dupré, John. 2001. In Defence of Classification. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 32(2): 203–219.
 Gadamer, Hans-Georg. "Truth and Method". Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. , 9780826476975.
 Hacking, Ian. 1990. Natural Kinds. in Robert B. Barrett and Roger Gibson, F., editors. Perspectives on Quine. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
 Hacking, Ian. 1991. "A Tradition of Natural Kinds", Philosophical Studies, Vol. 61, No.1/2, (February 1991), pp. 109–126.
 Kendig, Catherine (ed.), Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice, Routledge, (Abingdon), 2016. .
 Putnam, Hilary. 1975. The Meaning of 'Meaning'. in Keith Gunderson, editor. Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. VII. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  Reprinted in: Quine (1969), Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, Ch. 5, Columbia Univ. Press.
 Sokal, Robert R. 1974. Classification: Purposes, Principles, Progress, Prospects. Science 185(4157): 1115–1123.

External links 
 Natural Kinds, by Alexander Bird and Emma Tobin, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
 Project Cosmology Modern effort to produce a comprehensive list of major categories for natural kinds

Logic
Philosophy of science
Semantics
Ontology