Synopses & Reviews
The concept of species has played a central role in both evolutionary biology and the philosophy of biology, and has been the focus of a number of books in recent years. This book differs from other recent collections in two ways. It is more explicitly integrative and analytical, centering on issues of general significance such as pluralism and realism about species. It also draws on a broader range of disciplines and brings neglected cognitive, anthropological, and historical dimensions to philosophical debates over species.
The chapters are organized around five themes: unity, integration, and pluralism; species realism; historical dimensions; cognitive underpinnings; and practical import. The contributors include prominent researchers from anthropology, botany, developmental psychology, the philosophy of biology and science, protozoology, and zoology.
Contributors: Scott Atran, Richard Boyd, Kevin de Queiroz, John Duprandeacute;, Marc Ereshefsky, Paul E. Griffiths, David L. Hull, Frank C. Keil, Brent D. Mishler, David L. Nanney, Daniel C. Richardson, Kim Sterelny, Robert A. Wilson
Review:
andquot;This is a fresh, well-conceived collection on one of the most persistent problems in the philosophy of biologyandmdash;the species problem. Unlike most anthologies, but like many species, it is cohesive and integrated.andquot;
andmdash;Robert N. Brandon, Professor of Philsophy and Zoology, Duke University
Synopsis:
Contributors: Scott Atran, Richard Boyd, Kevin de Queiroz, John Dupr?, Marc Ereshefsky, Paul E. Griffiths, David L. Hull, Frank C. Keil, Brent D. Mishler, David L. Nanney, Daniel C. Richardson, Kim Sterelny, Robert A. Wilson
About the Author
< received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University in 1992, and has taught at Queen's University, Canada (1992-1996), and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1996-2001), where he was a member of the Cognitive Science Group at the university's Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Since July 2000 he has been professor of philosophy at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada. His areas of professional interest are the philosophy of the mind, the foundations of cognitive science, and the philosophy of biology. He recently edited Species: New Interdisciplinary Essays (MIT Press, 1999), and with Frank Keil, is the general editor of The MIT Press Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (MIT Press, 1999). See also his <.
Table of Contents
On the impossibility of a monistic account of species / John Duprâe — On the plurality of species: questioning the party line / David L. Hull — The general lineage concept of species and the defining properties of the species category / Kevin de Queiroz — When is a rose?: the kinds of Tetrahymena / David L. Nanney — Species as ecological mosaics / Kim Sterelny — Homeostasis, species, and higher taxa / Richard Boyd — Realism, essence, and kind: resuscitating species essentialism / Robert A. Wilson — Squaring the circle: natural kinds with historical essences / Paul E. Griffiths — The universal primacy of generic species in folkbiological taxonomy: implication for human biological, cultural, and scientific evolution / Scott Atran — Species, stuff, and patterns of causation / Frank C. Keil and Daniel C. Richardson — Species and the Linnaean hierarchy / Marc Ereshefsky — Getting rid of species? / Brent D. Mishler.
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