Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The Disorder of Things' and 'The Logic of What Might Have Been'

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3 ideas

27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution
Archelaus said life began in a primeval slime [Archelaus, by Schofield]
     Full Idea: Archelaus wrote that life on Earth began in a primeval slime.
     From: report of Archelaus (fragments/reports [c.450 BCE]) by Malcolm Schofield - Archelaus
     A reaction: This sounds like a fairly clearcut assertion of the production of life by evolution. Darwin's contribution was to propose the mechanism for achieving it. We should honour the name of Archelaus for this idea.
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 5. Species
Species are the lowest-level classification in biology [Dupré]
     Full Idea: Species are, by definition, the lowest-level classificatory unit, or basal taxonomic unit, for biological organisms.
     From: John Dupré (The Disorder of Things [1993], 2)
     A reaction: I think this is the 'infima species' for Aristotelians. What about 'male' and 'female' in each species?
The theory of evolution is mainly about species [Dupré]
     Full Idea: Species are what the theory of evolution is centrally about.
     From: John Dupré (The Disorder of Things [1993], 2)