Metaphysics and the Origin of Species

by Michael T. Ghiselin

Overview

This sweeping discussion of the philosophy of evolutionary biology is based on the revolutionary idea that species are not kinds of organisms but wholes composed of organisms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791434680
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	07/10/1997
Series:	SUNY series in Philosophy and Biology
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	377
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael T. Ghiselin is the author of Intellectual Compromise, The Economy of Nature and the Evolution of Sex, and The Triumph of the Darwinian Method. A Senior Research Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences, he is the recipient of a 1981 MacArthur Prize and was awarded the 1970 Pfizer Prize by the History of Science Society.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Beyond Language

3. What an Individual Is

4. What an Individual Is Not

5. Some Definitions of 'Definition'

6. Definitions of 'Species' and Some Other Terms

7. Some Alternatives to the Biological Species Concept

8. Objections to the Individuality Thesis

9. Working Out the Analogies

10. Why Do Species Exist?

11. Objectives and Subjective Systems

12. Natural and Artificial Systems

13. Characters and Homologies

14. Laws of Nature

15. The Principles of Historical Inference

16. Embryology as History and as Law

17. The Artifactual Basis of Macroevolution

18. Toward a Real History of Life

Appendix: Aphorisms, Summary and Glossographic

References

Index

Editorial Reviews

"As important as Michael Ghiselin's work has been, he is an excellent example of someone who really has not received the attention and acclaim that his work deserves. The most innovative scientists and philosophers think highly of his work and cite it frequently, but too often the larger body of scholars is aware of only bits and pieces. This book will set things straight. Ghiselin has been preparing to write this book all his life. It integrates all of the various aspects of his research into a single, unified, and impressive whole." — David L. Hull, Dressler Professor in the Humanities, Northwestern University

"…Ghiselin's book has an exceptional intellectual sharpness for a treatise on biology. Almost every page offers an original insight or penetrating argument … there is no 'metaphysical book' more bracing for the philosophy of biology. It is the only one that evolutionary biologists and systematists simply must read." — ISIS

"This book will be highly praised by some readers and viciously attacked by others. There is no other such comprehensive treatment in the available literature. The excellent, very extensive cross-references are a particular virtue. The crucial literature is cited for virtually every controversial issue. Thus the book is a most useful introduction to the covered field." — Ernst Mayr, Harvard University

From the Publisher