Metaphysics and the Origin of Species (SUNY Series (Suny Series, Philosophy & Biology) [Paperback]

Michael T. Ghiselin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0791434680 | ISBN-13: 978-0791434680 | Publication Date: July 10, 1997

This sweeping discussion of the philosophy of evolutionary biology is based on the author's revolutionary idea that species are not kinds of organisms but wholes composed of organisms--individuals in the broadest ontological sense. Although the book's primary focus is on species and speciation, it deals with a wide variety of other fundamental units and basic processes and provides a reexamination of the role of classification in biology and other sciences. In explaining his individuality thesis, Michael T. Ghiselin provides extended discussions of such philosophical topics as definition, the reality of various kinds of groups, and how we classify traits and processes. He develops and applies the implications for general biology and other sciences and makes the case that a better understanding of species and of classification in general puts biologists and paleontologists in a much better position to understand nature in general, and such processes as extinction in particular.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 398 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (July 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791434680
• ISBN-13: 978-0791434680
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,856,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stimulating and thought provoking philosophy of biology, December 8, 1998

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[e-mail] (Vaxjo, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Metaphysics and the Origin of Species (Suny Series in Philosophy and Biology) (Hardcover)

Ghiselin's new book brings together knowledge from the historical, philosophical, psychological, economical, and biological sciences which makes it unique, and it highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research. It is the sort of work that stimulates those of us interested in philosophy of science in general and philosophy of systematics in particular, but it also has the potential to open up the eyes of those not already familiar with the power of the individuality thesis. I highly recommend this book to everyone that is interested in theoretical systematics and its philosophy, and I'm sure it will provide the basis for much stimulating thought and discussion. This book should be used at both graduate and undergraduate courses so that, eventually, the strength of the individuality thesis will permeate all parts of biology and make biology the historical science that Darwin envisioned 150 years ago. For a more detailed review, see Harlin 1998, Zoologica Scripta 27: 87-88.