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Single Idea 17388
[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 10. Essence as Species
]
Full Idea
It is widely agreed among biologists that no essential property can be found to demarcate species, so that if an essential property is necessary for a natural kind, species are not natural kinds.
Gist of Idea
It seems that species lack essential properties, so they can't be natural kinds
Source
John Dupré (The Disorder of Things [1993], 2)
Book Ref
Dupré,John: 'The Disorder of Things' [Harvard 1995], p.53
A Reaction
This uses 'essential' to mean 'necessary', but I would use 'essential' to mean 'deeply explanatory'. Biological species are, nevertheless, dubious members of an ontological system. Vegetables are the problem.
Related Idea
Idea 17379
Borders between species are much less clear in vegetables than among animals [Dupré]
The
17 ideas
from John Dupré
17374
|
The possibility of prediction rests on determinism
[Dupré]
|
17375
|
Natural kinds are decided entirely by the intentions of our classification
[Dupré]
|
17379
|
Borders between species are much less clear in vegetables than among animals
[Dupré]
|
17377
|
All descriptive language is classificatory
[Dupré]
|
17380
|
Wales may count as fish
[Dupré]
|
17378
|
Presumably molecular structure seems important because we never have the Twin Earth experience
[Dupré]
|
17382
|
Cooks, unlike scientists, distinguish garlic from onions
[Dupré]
|
17381
|
Phylogenetics involves history, and cladism rests species on splits in lineage
[Dupré]
|
17385
|
Kinds don't do anything (including evolve) because they are abstract
[Dupré]
|
17389
|
A species might have its essential genetic mechanism replaced by a new one
[Dupré]
|
17388
|
It seems that species lack essential properties, so they can't be natural kinds
[Dupré]
|
17384
|
Even atoms of an element differ, in the energy levels of their electrons
[Dupré]
|
17387
|
Ecologists favour classifying by niche, even though that can clash with genealogy
[Dupré]
|
17383
|
Species are the lowest-level classification in biology
[Dupré]
|
17386
|
The theory of evolution is mainly about species
[Dupré]
|
17390
|
Natural kinds don't need essentialism to be explanatory
[Dupré]
|
17376
|
We should aim for a classification which tells us as much as possible about the object
[Dupré]
|