Biology and Philosophy 2 (4):397-414 (1987)
Abstract |
The concept of individuality as applied to species, an important advance in the philosophy of evolutionary biology, is nevertheless in need of refinement. Four important subparts of this concept must be recognized: spatial boundaries, temporal boundaries, integration, and cohesion. Not all species necessarily meet all of these. Two very different types of pluralism have been advocated with respect to species, only one of which is satisfactory. An often unrecognized distinction between grouping and ranking components of any species concept is necessary. A phylogenetic species concept is advocated that uses a grouping criterion of monophyly in a cladistic sense, and a ranking criterion based on those causal processes that are most important in producing and maintaining lineages in a particular case. Such causal processes can include actual interbreeding, selective constraints, and developmental canalization. The widespread use of the biological species concept is flawed for two reasons: because of a failure to distinguish grouping from ranking criteria and because of an unwarranted emphasis on the importance of interbreeding as a universal causal factor controlling evolutionary diversification. The potential to interbreed is not in itself a process; it is instead a result of a diversity of processes which result in shared selective environments and common developmental programs. These types of processes act in both sexual and asexual organisms, thus the phylogenetic species concept can reflect an underlying unity that the biological species concept can not
|
Keywords | Species concepts individuality pluralism monophyly cladistics phylogeny |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1007/BF00127698 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance.Ernst Mayr - 1982 - Belknap Press, 1982.
The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme.S. J. Gould & R. C. Lewontin - 1979 - In E. Sober (ed.), Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology. The Mit Press. Bradford Books. pp. 73-90.
A Radical Solution to the Species Problem.Michael T. Ghiselin - 1974 - Systematic Zoology 23:536-44.
View all 28 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Life and Life Only: A Radical Alternative to Life Definitionism.Carlos Mariscal & W. Ford Doolittle - 2020 - Synthese 197 (7):2975-2989.
Scientific Pluralism.Stephen H. Kellert, Helen E. Longino & C. Kenneth Waters (eds.) - 1956 - Univ of Minnesota Press.
View all 84 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Evolution Without Species: The Case of Mosaic Bacteriophages.Gregory J. Morgan & W. Brad Pitts - 2008 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59 (4):745-765.
The Cladistic Solution to the Species Problem.Mark Ridley - 1989 - Biology and Philosophy 4 (1):1-16.
Discussion: Phylogenetic Species Concept: Pluralism, Monism, and History. [REVIEW]Christopher D. Horvath - 1997 - Biology and Philosophy 12 (2):225-232.
Species Pluralism Does Not Imply Species Eliminativism.Ingo Brigandt - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1305–1316.
Species Concepts Should Not Conflict with Evolutionary History, but Often Do.Joel D. Velasco - 2008 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 39 (4):407-414.
Species Concepts and the Ontology of Evolution.Joel Cracraft - 1987 - Biology and Philosophy 2 (3):329-346.
A Commentary on Ridley's Cladistic Solution to the Species Problem.Mark Wilkinson - 1990 - Biology and Philosophy 5 (4):433-446.
When Monophyly is Not Enough: Exclusivity as the Key to Defining a Phylogenetic Species Concept.Joel D. Velasco - 2009 - Biology and Philosophy 24 (4):473-486.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
132 ( #88,464 of 2,505,790 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
2 ( #277,268 of 2,505,790 )
2009-01-28
Total views
132 ( #88,464 of 2,505,790 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
2 ( #277,268 of 2,505,790 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads