Species

Philosophy of Science 51 (2):308-333 (1984)
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Abstract

I defend a view of the species category, pluralistic realism, which is designed to do justice to the insights of many different groups of systematists. After arguing that species are sets and not individuals, I proceed to outline briefly some defects of the biological species concept. I draw the general moral that similar shortcomings arise for other popular views of the nature of species. These shortcomings arise because the legitimate interests of biology are diverse, and these diverse interests are reflected in different legitimate approaches to the classification of organisms. In the final section, I show briefly how the pluralistic approach can help to illuminate some areas of biological and philosophical dispute.

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original Kitcher, Philip (1982) "Species". Journal of Philosophy 79(11):721-722

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Philip Kitcher
Columbia University

References found in this work

Naming and Necessity.Saul Kripke - 1980 - Philosophy 56 (217):431-433.
Explanatory unification.Philip Kitcher - 1981 - Philosophy of Science 48 (4):507-531.
Philosophy of Natural Science.Carl G. Hempel - 1967 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 18 (1):70-72.
A matter of individuality.David L. Hull - 1978 - Philosophy of Science 45 (3):335-360.

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