Species Concepts and Theoretical Modes of Speciation

Dissertation, Duke University (1992)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

A review is presented of the various alternative conceptual definitions for biological species as well as of the contending theoretical explanations for the origin of species. This critical review elucidates a set of criteria that any adequate species concept must satisfy and a related set that must be satisfied by any adequate explanation of the speciation process. The result of this analysis is an argument that species are the natural products of biological processes and not artificial, human-constructed classes. Species are historical "individuals" with unique evolutionary pasts. These "individuals" consist of lineages of organisms related to one another in an ancestor-descendent relationship, and originating from a single "event" such as the acquisition of some reproductive isolation mechanism or an hybridization event between two local populations. These "individuals" are cladistically monophyletic. The study of the processes by which species originate and are maintained is the study of the biological forces that either keep a particular lineage together as an historical entity with an unique evolutionary identity, and/or that cause such lineages to dissolve and lose that unique identity. ;In addition, it is argued that a satisfactory understanding of the pattern of organization seen in the natural world , and of the processes by which this pattern evolves cannot be obtained independently of one another. Descriptions of dynamic patterns of organization, and explanations of the processes involved in creating and maintaining those patterns must constantly inform one another if a correct account of either is to be had. In order to avoid circularity in such investigations, independent experiments must be performed to verify our understanding of the patterns we are attempting to explain as well as our understanding of the processes hypothesized as explanations for those patterns

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The cladistic solution to the species problem.Mark Ridley - 1989 - Biology and Philosophy 4 (1):1-16.
Species monophyly.Olivier Rieppel - 2009 - Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 48 (1):1-8.
A (not-so-radical) solution to the species problem.Bradley E. Wilson - 1995 - Biology and Philosophy 10 (3):339-356.
Vague Kinds and Biological Nominalism.Peter Simons - 2013 - Metaphysica 14 (2):275-282.
Classes or Individuals? The Paradox of Systematics Revisited.Alessandro Rapini - 2004 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 35 (4):675-695.
Species and identity.Laurance J. Splitter - 1988 - Philosophy of Science 55 (3):323-348.
Cento e quarenta anons sem Charles Darwin bastam: sobre variedades, espécies, e definições.Ricardo Wainzbort - 2000 - Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology 4 (1):141-184.
A hierarchy of species concepts: the denouement in the saga of the species problem.R. L. Mayden - 1997 - In M. F. Claridge, H. A. Dawah & M. R. Wilson (eds.), Species: The units of diversity,. Chapman & Hall. pp. 381–423.
Biological Individuals and Natural Kinds.Olivier Rieppel - 2013 - Biological Theory 7 (2):162-169.
Speciation and Macroevolution.Anya Plutynski - 2008 - In Sahorta Sarkar & Anya Plutynski (eds.), Companion to the Philosophy of Biology. Blackwell. pp. 169–185.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-02-05

Downloads
0

6 months
0

Historical graph of downloads

Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Christopher D. Horvath
Illinois State University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references