Species Have (Partly) Intrinsic Essences

被引：24

作者：

Devitt, Michael ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] CUNY, Philosophy Program, Grad Ctr, New York, NY 10016 USA

来源：

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE | 2010年 / 77卷 / 05期

关键词：

NATURAL KINDS; ESSENTIALISM; PLURALISM; TAXONOMY;

D O I：

10.1086/656820

中图分类号：

N09 [自然科学史]; B [哲学、宗教];

学科分类号：

01 ; 0101 ; 010108 ; 060207 ; 060305 ; 0712 ;

摘要：

The paper defends the doctrine that Linnaean taxa, including species, have essences that are, at least partly, underlying intrinsic, mostly genetic, properties. The consensus among philosophers of biology is that such essentialism is deeply wrong, indeed incompatible with Darwinism. I argue that biological generalizations about the morphology, physiology, and behavior of species require structural explanations that must advert to these essential properties. The paper concludes by summarizing my responses to the objection that, according to current "species concepts," species are relational, and to the objection that essentialism cannot accommodate features of Darwinism associated with variation and change.

引用

页码：648 / 661

页数：14