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Cladistic Classification and Functional Explanation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

P. E. Griffiths
P. E. Griffiths*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy University of Otago
*
‡Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
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Abstract

I adopt a cladistic view of species, and explore the possibility that there exists an equally valuable cladistic view of organismic traits. This suggestion seems to run counter to the stress on functional views of biological traits in recent work in philosophy and psychology. I show how the tension between these two views can be defused with a multilevel view of biological explanation. Despite the attractions of this compromise, I conclude that we must reject it, and adopt an essentially cladistic conception of biological traits.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 206 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

In preparing this paper I have benefited greatly from the comments of Robert J. O'Hara, Russell Gray and an anonymous referee for this journal.

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