Abstract
From time to time biologists profess themselves to be searching for what they call a ‘Natural Classification’, and in what follows I want to propose an answer to the question of what it is they are looking for.
I wish to thank Professor Peter Alexander, Professor Dorothy Emmet, Professor D. Hull, Dr Humphrey Palmer, Dr Roger Woolhouse, the Editor and the members of the L.S.E. Philosophy Seminar for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and to acknowledge the hospitality of the University of Ife, Nigeria, where it was written.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Bambrough, R.: 1961, ‘Universale and Family Resemblances’, Proceedings of the Aristotelean Society 61, 207–22. (Page references are to reprint in G. Pitcher (ed.): Wittgenstein, The Philosophical Investigations, 1968, pp. 186-204.)
Cain, A. J.: 1954, Animal Species and Their Evolution, London, Hutchinson.
Cain, A. J.: 1959, ‘Deductive and Inductive Methods in Post-Linnean Taxonomy’, Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 170, 185–217.
Cain, A. J.: 1962, ‘The Evolution of Taxonomic Principles’, in G. C. Ainsworth and P. H. A. Sneath (eds.): Microbial Classification, Cambridge, Univ. Press, pp. 1–13.
Cain, A. J. and Harrison, G. A.: 1958, ‘An Analysis of Taxonomist’s Judgement of Affinity’, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 131, 85–98.
Cain, A. J. and Harrison, G. A.: 1958, ‘Phyletic Weighting’, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 135, 1–31.
Cuvier, G. L. C. F.: 1817, Le Règne Animal, Paris.
Duhem, P.: 1906, La Théorie physique, son objet et sa structure. (Page reference is to the English translation of the second, 1914, edition: The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, Princeton, Univ. Press 1954.)
Gilmour, J. S. L.: 1951, ‘The Development of Taxonomic Theory since 1851’, Nature 168, pp. 400–2.
Gilmour, J. S. L.: 1961, ‘The Mathematical Assessment of Taxonomic Similarity, Including The Use of Computers’, Taxon 10, 97–101.
Hempel, C. G.: 1965, Aspects of Scientific Explanation, New York, Free Press.
Hennig, W.: 1966, Phylogenetic Systematics, Urbana, Univ. Ill. Press.
Heslop-Harrison, J.: 1962, ‘Purposes and Procedures in the Taxonomic Treatment of Higher Organisms’, in G. C. Ainsworth and P. H. A. Sneath (eds.): Microbial Classification, pp. 14–36.
Hull, D. L.: 1967, ‘Certainty and Circularity in Evolutionary Taxonomy’, Evolution 21, 174–189.
Huxley, J. S.: 1940, The New Systematics, London, Oxford Univ. Press.
Mayr, E.: 1968, Principles of Systematic Zoology, New York, McGraw Hill.
Mill, J. S.: 1843, A System of Logic, 8th ed., New York, Harper, 1882.
Popper, K. R.: 1935, Die Logik der Forschung. (Page reference is to the expanded English edition: The Logic of Scientific Discovery, London, Hutchinson, 1959.)
Pratt, V.: 1972, ‘Numerical Taxonomy — A Critique’, Journal of Theoretical Biology 36, 581–92.
Price, H. H.: 1953, Thinking and Experience, Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press.
Quine, W. V. O.: 1969, ‘Natural Kinds’, in N. Rescher (ed.): Essays in Honour of Carl G. Hempel, pp. 5-23.
Simpson, G. G.: 1961, Principles of Animal Taxonomy, New York, Columbia Univ. Press.
Sokal, R. R. and Sneath, P. H. A.: 1963, Principles of Numerical Taxonomy, San Francisco, Freeman.
Thompson, W. R.: 1952, ‘The Philosophical Foundations of Systematics’, Canadian Entomologist 84, 1–16.
Whewell, W.: 1840, The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, London.
Young, J. Z.: 1959, The Life of Mammals, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1976 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pratt, V. (1976). Biological Classification. In: Topics in the Philosophy of Biology. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 27. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1829-6_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1829-6_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-0596-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-1829-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive