Showing posts with label John Wilkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Wilkins. Show all posts

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The species problem

THE THREE SPECIES PROBLEMS

The species problem is actually a number of problems that biologists have dealt with since the term was first applied to biological organisms by Aristotle. I call the three main problems the grouping problem, the ranking problem, and the commensurability problem. It will benefit us to clearly distinguish these at the beginning of our discussion and to bear them in mind as we consider the philosophy of species.

What is a species?

From Appendix B in Species: A History of the Idea (2nd ed.) by John Wilkins: