Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:04:33.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Essentialism in Biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Olivier Rieppel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The architects of the modern synthesis banned essentialism from evolutionary theory. This rejection of essentialism was motivated by Darwin's theory of natural selection, and the continuity of evolutionary transformation. Contemporary evolutionary biology witnesses a renaissance of essentialism in three contexts: “origin essentialism” with respect to species and supraspecific taxa, the bar coding of species on the basis of discontinuities of DNA variation between populations, and the search for laws of evolutionary developmental biology. Such “new essentialism” in contemporary biology must be of a new kind that accommodates relational (extrinsic) properties as historical essences and cluster concepts of natural kinds.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 77 , Issue 5 , December 2010 , pp. 662 - 673
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

My thanks go to Marc Ereshefsky and an anonymous reviewer who offered helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

References

Armstrong, David M. 1997. A World of States of Affairs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avise, John C. 2000. Phylogeography: The History and Formation of Species. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bapteste, Eric, and Boucher, Yan. 2008. “Lateral Gene Transfer Challenges Principles of Microbial Systematics.” Trends in Microbiology 16:200–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baum, David. 1992. “Phylogenetic Species Concepts.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 7:1–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyd, Richard. 1991. “Realism, Anti-foundationalism and the Enthusiasm for Natural Kinds.” Philosophical Studies 61:127–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, Richard. 1999. “Homeostasis, Species, and Higher Taxa.” In Species: New Interdisciplinary Essays, ed. Wilson, Robert A., 141–85. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Brandon, Robert N. 1999. “The Units of Selection Revisited: The Modules of Selection.” Biology and Philosophy 14:67–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, Charles. 1859. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
De Queiroz, Kevin. 1988. “Systematics and the Darwinian Revolution.”Philosophy of Science 55:238–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Queiroz, Kevin, and Donoghue, Michael J.. 1990. “Phylogenetic Systematics or Nelson's Version of Cladistics?” Cladistics 6:61–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doolittle, W. Ford. 1999. “Phylogenetic Classification and the Universal Tree.” Science 284:2124–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doolittle, W. Ford. 2009. “The Practice of Classification and the Theory of Evolution, and What the Demise of Charles Darwin's Tree of Life Hypothesis Means for Both of Them.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London B 364:2221–28.Google ScholarPubMed
Doolittle, W. Ford, and Bapteste, Eric. 2007. “Pattern Pluralism and the Tree of Life Hypothesis.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:2043–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dupré, John. 2002. “Is ‘Natural Kind’ a Natural Kind Term?” Monist 85:29–49.Google Scholar
Dupré, John. 2006. Humans and Other Animals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, Brian D. 2001. Scientific Essentialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, Brian D.. 2002. The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ereshefsky, Marc. 2007. “Foundational Issues concerning Taxa and Taxon Names.” Systematic Biology 56:295–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, Gareth. 1982. The Varieties of Reference. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Farris, James S. 1974. “Formal Definitions of Paraphyly and Polyphyly.” Systematic Zoology 23:548–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghiselin, Michael. 1974. “A Radical Solution to the Species Problem.” Systematic Zoology 23:536–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, Peter R., Grant, B. Rosemary, Markert, Jeffrey A., Keller, Lukas F., and Petren, Ken. 2004. “Convergent Evolution of Darwin's Finches Caused by Introgressive Hybridization and Selection.” Evolution 58:1588–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graybeal, Anna. 1995. “Naming Species.” Systematic Biology 44:237–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregg, John R. 1954. The Language of Taxonomy: An Application of Symbolic Logic to the Study of Classificatory Systems. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, Paul E. 1999. “Squaring the Circle: Natural Kinds with Historical Essences.” In Species: New Interdisciplinary Essays, ed. Wilson, Robert A., 209–28. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Günther, Klaus. 1956. “Systematik und Stammesgeschichte der Tiere, 1939–1953.” Fortschritte der Zoologie NF 10:33–278.Google Scholar
Hacking, Ian. 2007. “Natural Kinds: Rosy Dawn, Scholastic Twilight.” Royal Institute of Philosophy 61 (Suppl.): 203–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, Andrew, and Wheeler, Quentin D.. 2008. “Taxonomy and Why the History of Science Matters for Science.” Isis 99:331–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanna, Patricia, and Harrison, Bernard. 2004. Word and World: Practice and the Foundations of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hennig, Willi. 1950. Grundzüge einer Theorie der Phylogenetischen Systematik. Berlin: Deutscher Zentralverlag.Google Scholar
Hennig, Willi. 1957. “Systematik und Phylogenese.” In Bericht über die Hundertjahrfeier der Deutschen Entomologischen Gesellschaft Belin, ed. Hannemann, Hans J., 50–71. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.Google Scholar
Hennig, Willi. 1966. Phylogenetic Systematics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Herbert, Paul D. N., and Gregory, T. Ryan. 2005. “The Promise of DNA Barcoding for Taxonomy.” Systematic Biology 54:852–59.Google Scholar
Ho, Mae-Wan, and Saunders, Peter T.. 1984. “Pluralism and Convergence in Evolutionary Theory.” In Beyond Neo-Darwinism, 3–12. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hull, David L. 1965. “The Effect of Essentialism on Taxonomy—Two Thousand Years of Stasis.” Pts. 1 and 2. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 15:314–62; 16:1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, David L.. 1976. “Are Species Really Individuals.” Systematic Zoology 25:174–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, David L.. 1988. Science as a Process: An Evolutionary Account of the Social and Conceptual Development of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenner, Ronald A. 2008. “Evo-Devo's Identity: From Model Organisms to Developmental Types.” In Evolving Pathways, ed. Minelli, Alessandro and Fusco, Guiseppe, 100–119. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, Roberto A., Boyd, Richard N., and Wheeler, Quentin D.. 2003. “The Illogical Basis of Phylogenetic Nomenclature.” Botanical Review 69:93–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kripke, Saul A. 1972/2002. Naming and Necessity. Repr. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaPorte, Joseph. 2004. Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lennox, James G. 1980. “Aristotle on Genera, Species, and ‘The More and the Less.’” Journal for the History of Biology 13:321–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallet, James, and Willmott, Keith. 2003. “Taxonomy: Renaissance or Tower of Babel?” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:57–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, Ernst. 1963. Animal Species and Evolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, Ernst. 1982. The Growth of Biological Thought. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.Google Scholar
Millikan, Ruth G. 1999. “Historical Kinds and the ‘Special Sciences.’” Philosophical Studies 95:45–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minelli, Alessandro, and Fusco, Guiseppe. 2008. “Introduction: Pathways of Change.” In Evolving Pathways, xv–xviii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, Gerd B. 2008. “Evo-Devo as a Discipline.” In Evolving Pathways, ed. Minelli, Alessandro and Fusco, Guiseppe, 5–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okasha, Samir. 2002. “Darwinian Metaphysics: Species and the Question of Essentialism.” Synthese 131:191–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okasha, Samir. 2006. “Darwin.” In A Companion to the Philosophy of Science, ed. Newton-Smith, William H., 68–75. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pennisi, Elizabeth. 2008. “Modernizing the Modern Synthesis.” Science 321:196–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raff, Rudolph A. 1996. The Shape of Life: Genes, Development, and the Evolution of Animal Form. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rensch, Bernhard. 1959. Evolution above the Species Level. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, Michael K. 1995. “Heterochrony and the Phylotypic Period.” Developmental Biology 172:412–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richardson, Michael K., Minelli, Alessandro, Coates, Michael, and Hanken, James. 1998. “Phylotypic Stage Theory.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13:158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rieppel, Olivier. 2005. “Modules, Kinds, and Homology.” Journal of Experimental Zoology B 304:18–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rieppel, Olivier. 2007. “The Metaphysics of Hennig's Phylogenetic Systematics: Substance, Events and Laws of Nature.” Systematics and Biodiversity 5:345–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rieppel, Olivier. 2009. “Species as a Process.” Acta Biotheoretica 57:33–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubinoff, Daniel, Cameron, Stephen, and Will, Kipling. 2006. “Are Plant DNA Barcodes a Search for the Holy Grail?” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:1–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Savolainen, Vincent, Cowan, Ruth S., Vogler, Alfried P., Roderick, George K., and Lane, Richard. 2005. “Towards Writing the Encyclopedia of Life: An Introduction to DNA Barcoding.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London B 360:1805–11.Google ScholarPubMed
Schweber, Silvan S. 1989. “John Herschel and Charles Darwin: A Study in Parallel Lives.” Journal of the History of Biology 22:1–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwenk, Kurt, and Wagner, Gunter P.. 2003. “The Relativism of Constraints on Phenotypic Evolution.” In The Evolution of Complex Phenotypes, ed. Pigliucci, Massimo and Preston, Katherine, 390–408. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sober, Eliott. 1992. “Monophyly.” In Keywords in Evolutionary Biology, ed. Keller, Evelyn Fox and Lloyd, Elisabeth A., 202–7. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tautz, Diethard, Arctander, Peter, Minelli, Alessandro, Thomas, Richard H., and Vogler, Alfried P.. 2003. “A Plea for DNA Taxonomy.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:70–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tschulok, Sinai. 1910. Das System der Biologie in Forschung und Lehre. Jena: Gustav Fischer.Google Scholar
Wagner, Gunter P. 1996. “Homologues, Natural Kinds and the Evolution of Modularity.” American Zoologist 36:36–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, Gunter P.. 2001. “Characters, Units, and Natural Kinds.” In The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology, 1–10. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wagner, Gunter P., and Altenberg, Lee. 1996. “Complex Adaptations and the Evolution of Evolvability.” Evolution 50:967–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, Denis. 2006. “Evolutionary Essentialism.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57:425–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West-Eberhard, Mary J. 2003. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, Quentin D. 2004. “Taxonomic Triage and the Poverty of Phylogeny.” Proceedings of the Royal Society, London B 359:571–83.Google ScholarPubMed
Whitehead, Alfred N. 1920. The Concept of Nature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wimsatt, William C. 1986. “Developmental Constraints, Generative Entrenchment and the Innate-Acquired Distinction.” In Integrating Scientific Disciplines, ed. Bechtel, William, 185–208. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winsor, Mary P. 2006. “Linnaeus's Biology Was Not Essentialist.” Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 93:2–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winther, Rasmus G. 2001. “Varieties of Modules: Kinds, Levels, Origins, and Behaviors.” Journal of Experimental Zoology 291:116–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woodger, Joseph H. 1952. “From Biology to Mathematics.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 3:1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zangerl, Rainer. 1948. “The Methods of Comparative Anatomy and Its Contribution to the Study of Evolution.” Evolution 2:351–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar