Bridging the gap between human kinds and biological kinds

Philosophy of Science 71 (5):912-921 (2004)
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Abstract

Many writers claim that human kinds are significantly different from biological and natural kinds. Some suggest that humans kinds are unique because social structures are essential for the etiology of human kinds. Others argue that human cultural evolution is decidedly different from other forms of evolution. In this paper I suggest that the gulf between humans and our biological relatives is not as wide as some argue. There is a taxonomic difference between human and nonhuman organisms, but such factors as social structure and cultural evolution do not distinguish us from many other organisms.

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Marc Ereshefsky
University of Calgary

References found in this work

Human nature and the limits of science.John Dupré - 2001 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Essentialism and constructionism about sexual orientation.Edward Stein - 1998 - In David L. Hull & Michael Ruse (eds.), The philosophy of biology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 427--42.

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