Microbiology and the species problem

Biology and Philosophy 25 (4):553-568 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper examines the species problem in microbiology and its implications for the species problem more generally. Given the different meanings of ‘species’ in microbiology, the use of ‘species’ in biology is more multifarious and problematic than commonly recognized. So much so, that recent work in microbial systematics casts doubt on the existence of a prokaryote species category in nature. It also casts doubt on the existence of a general species category for all of life (one that includes both prokaryotes and eukaryotes). Prokaryote biology also undermines recent attempts to save the species category, such as the suggestion that species are metapopulation lineages and the idea that ‘species’ is a family resemblance concept.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

On the metaphysics of species.Judith K. Crane - 2004 - Philosophy of Science 71 (2):156-173.
Species pluralism and anti-realism.Marc Ereshefsky - 1998 - Philosophy of Science 65 (1):103-120.
Species pluralism does not imply species eliminativism.Ingo Brigandt - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1305-1316.
The cladistic solution to the species problem.Mark Ridley - 1989 - Biology and Philosophy 4 (1):1-16.
A (not-so-radical) solution to the species problem.Bradley E. Wilson - 1995 - Biology and Philosophy 10 (3):339-356.
What is a species, and what is not?Ernst Mayr - 1996 - Philosophy of Science 63 (2):262-277.
How is a species kept together?Peter J. Beurton - 1995 - Biology and Philosophy 10 (2):181-196.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-06-05

Downloads
182 (#99,060)

6 months
5 (#244,107)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Marc Ereshefsky
University of Calgary

Citations of this work

Species.Marc Ereshefsky - 2010 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Conceptual fragmentation and the rise of eliminativism.Henry Taylor & Peter Vickers - 2015 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 7 (1):17-40.
What Is a Recipe?Andrea Borghini - 2015 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 28 (4):719-738.

View all 41 citations / Add more citations