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Theory in Biosciences

, Volume 129, Issue 2–3, pp 141–148 | Cite as

What is a species? Essences and generation

  • John S. WilkinsEmail author
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

Arguments against essentialism in biology rely strongly on a claim that modern biology abandoned Aristotle’s notion of a species as a class of necessary and sufficient properties. However, neither his theory of essentialism, nor his logical definition of species and genus (eidos and genos) play much of a role in biological research and taxonomy, including his own. The objections to natural kinds thinking by early twentieth century biologists wrestling with the new genetics overlooked the fact that species have typical developmental cycles and most have a large shared genetic component. These are the “what-it-is-to-be” members of that species. An intrinsic biological essentialism does not commit us to Aristotelian notions, nor even modern notions, of essence. There is a long-standing definition of “species” and its precursor notions that goes back to the Greeks, and which Darwin and pretty well all biologists since him share, that I call the Generative Conception of Species. It relies on there being a shared generative power that makes progeny resemble parents. The “what-it-is-to-be” a member of that species is that developmental type, mistakes in development notwithstanding. Moreover, such “essences” have always been understood to include deviations from the type. Finally, I shall examine some implications of the collapse of the narrative about essences in biology.

Keywords

Species concept Essentialism story Typology Generation Natural kinds Classification 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was done under the ARC Federation Fellowship FF0457917 of Prof. Paul Griffiths, and under ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant DP0984826, at the Universities of Queensland and Sydney, respectively. Many thanks to Ciências Viva, and the Faculdade de Ciências of the Universidade de Lisboa for inviting me to Lisbon to deliver the talk this paper is based upon and funding that visit, and to Dr Nathalie Gontier for hosting an Australian above and beyond the call of duty.

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© Springer-Verlag 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of PhilosophyUniversity of SydneySydneyAustralia

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