Are Species Real? An Essay on the Metaphysics of Species

About this book

What are species? Are they objective features of the world? If so, what sort of features are they? Do everyday intuitions that species are real stand up to philosophical and scientific scrutiny? Two rival accounts of species' reality have dominated the discussion: that species are natural kinds defined by essential properties and that species are individuals. Unfortunately, neither account fully accommodates biological practice. In Are Species Real?, Slater presents a novel approach to this question aimed at accommodating the attractions to both realism and antirealism about species.

Contents

Series Editor's Foreword
Preface and Acknowledgements

1. Introduction
2. Natural Kinds
3. Essentialism
4. Individualism
5. Metaphysics of Species for the Commitment-Wary
6. The Natural Kindness Approach
7. Pluralism & Realism Revisited

References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Matthew Slater is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bucknell University, USA, having received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has co-edited such volumes as Carving Nature at its Joints, The Environment: Philosophy, Science, and Ethics, and Reference and Referring and writes on issues in the philosophy of science and metaphysics.