The Poverty of the Linnaean Hierarchy: A Philosophical Study of Biological Taxonomy

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
THE LINNAEAN SYSTEM RECONSIDERED......Page 13
An Overview of the Book......Page 18
I The Historical Turn......Page 25
1 The Philosophy of Classification......Page 27
1.1 ESSENTIALISM......Page 28
1.2 CLUSTER ANALYSES......Page 36
1.3 THE HISTORICAL APPROACH......Page 40
Causal Connections......Page 42
Vague Boundaries......Page 47
Identity and Individuation......Page 48
1.4 TAXONOMIC MONISM AND PLURALISM......Page 51
1.5 HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION......Page 58
2 A Primer of Biological Taxonomy......Page 62
2.1 EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY......Page 63
2.2 PHENETICISM......Page 72
2.3 PROCESS CLADISM......Page 78
2.4 PATTERN CLADISM......Page 87
2.5 SPECIES CONCEPTS......Page 92
The Biological Species Concept......Page 93
The Recognition Species Concept......Page 96
The Phenetic Species Concept......Page 97
The Ecological Species Concept......Page 99
The Evolutionary Species Concept......Page 100
Phylogenetic Species Concepts......Page 102
3 History and Classification......Page 106
3.1 THE DEATH OF ESSENTIALISM......Page 107
3.2 THE FAILURE OF CLUSTER ANALYSIS......Page 114
3.3 TAXA AS HISTORICAL ENTITIES......Page 121
3.4 SPECIES AS INDIVIDUALS......Page 124
3.5 THEORY AND EXPLANATION......Page 131
II The Multiplicity of Nature......Page 139
4 Species Pluralism......Page 141
4.1 THE POSSIBILITY OF PLURALISM......Page 142
4.2 THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT......Page 150
4.3 VARIETIES OF PLURALISM......Page 157
The Communication Objection......Page 166
The Inconsistency Objection......Page 168
The “Give It All You Have” Objection......Page 169
The “Anything Goes” Objection......Page 170
5 How to Be a Discerning Pluralist......Page 175
5.1 NORMATIVE NATURALISM......Page 176
5.2 THE AIM OF BIOLOGICAL TAXONOMY......Page 182
5.3 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RULES......Page 190
5.4 A CASE STUDY: SPECIES CONCEPTS......Page 197
5.5 METHODOLOGICAL UNITY AND DISUNITY......Page 205
III Hierarchies and Nomenclature......Page 209
6 The Evolution of the Linnaean Hierarchy......Page 211
6.1 LINNAEUS’S ORIGINAL SYSTEM......Page 212
6.2 DARWINISM AND THE MODERN SYNTHESIS......Page 220
6.3 CLADISTIC CHANGES......Page 226
Naming Problems......Page 233
Ontological Problems......Page 240
6.5 PRAGMATIC CONSIDERATIONS......Page 244
7 Post-Linnaean Taxonomy......Page 250
7.1 HIERARCHIES......Page 251
7.2 NAMING TAXA......Page 259
Recommendations......Page 267
7.3 DEFINING TAXON NAMES......Page 268
Recommendation......Page 278
8 The Future of Biological Nomenclature......Page 279
8.1 THE ANNOTATED LINNAEAN HIERARCHY......Page 280
8.2 THE POST-LINNAEAN SYSTEM......Page 286
8.3 THEORY AND PRACTICE......Page 292
CHAPTER 1......Page 304
CHAPTER 2......Page 305
CHAPTER 3......Page 306
CHAPTER 4......Page 307
CHAPTER 5......Page 308
CHAPTER 7......Page 309
CHAPTER 8......Page 310
References......Page 312
Index......Page 325