My species definitions reader is accepted for publication 15 Aug 2007 I have a book forthcoming, Species definitions: a sourcebook from antiquity to today, which gives and commentates definitions of “species” in logic and biology for 2,500 years, from Plato to Templeton and beyond. It’s designed as a reader for scholars to see how the notion[s] have evolved separately in the logical definitional sense – for Aristotle, eidos, which we translate as “form”, “species”, and “kind”, was a logical term, not a biological one, which had to wait until the 16th century, and even then they were distinct notions. I argue in the commentaries that there was nothing essentialist about the use of “species” in natural history and the later biology. And that type does not equal essence. And that fixism of species was motivated by piety rather than logic or metaphysics. I thereby offend a number of friends, but that’s life. Keep an eye on the catalogue for Peter Lang publishers. It’ll probably be about US$50 Book Evolution General Science History Species and systematics
History John Ray on species fixity and race 19 Sep 202019 Sep 2020 For since in nature the number of species is fixed and determined, since ‘God on the sixth day rested from all his labour’, that is, from the creation of new species, however infinite might be the number of plants varying in colour and multiplicity of flower, with new ones arising… Read More
Evolution Basic introduction to homology 20 Jan 2009 From Evolution: Education and Outreach comes a nice introduction to the concept of homology. Late note: OK, not so good. I saw only the cute pix, and presumed the author understood paraphyly. But as I didn’t have an entirely functional computer at the time I leapt in too soon. See… Read More
Epistemology Positivism about agnosticism 22 Nov 201122 Nov 2011 Following up from my last post on the logical and semantic aspects of agnosticism, I wish to make a comment regarding this ill-tempered piece by Jennifer Michael Hecht. It seems that one may not be an agnostic if one is a secularist or skeptic. Why? Because: Agnositicsm points this excellent… Read More
Congratulations – at last! I’ll definitely purchase a copy too. I see the title has changed, though. A pity: I preferred the old title (I’m assuming it is your Origins book). Bob
Congratulations – at last! I’ll definitely purchase a copy too. I see the title has changed, though. A pity: I preferred the old title (I’m assuming it is your Origins book). Bob
The old title is still live for the narrative book. [Copyright assertion: The Origin of Species Conceptions.]
Excellent! Take 100 kudos out of the U of E’s petty cash … if you ever find the treasurer and the research yacht … Now, about getting signed copies of the book …
congratz! do post again when it shows up on US amazon, i am happy to post on this and place a link so it can drive some purchases.
Congratulations! Is this a magnum opus along the lines of The Structure of Evolutionary Theory? Have you sold the movie rights yet?
Congratulations! Is this a magnum opus along the lines of The Structure of Evolutionary Theory? Have you sold the movie rights yet?
Well it has lots of characters, but the plot is a bit murky, so I doubt even Robert Altman would be willing to film it.
Hopefully it isn’t too scholarly, then again at only US$50 I’ll take the risk when it appears on Amazon.
Hopefully it isn’t too scholarly, then again at only US$50 I’ll take the risk when it appears on Amazon.
Have you told your publisher that they must send a review copy to PZ Mer…Moz…Mai … oh heck, the guy who has that Far…Phur.. Phrynuglya … Crap. There’s no way a review copy would ever find its way here, is there? Might as well tie one to an African Swallow’s leg and send it off.
Have you told your publisher that they must send a review copy to PZ Mer…Moz…Mai … oh heck, the guy who has that Far…Phur.. Phrynuglya … Crap. There’s no way a review copy would ever find its way here, is there? Might as well tie one to an African Swallow’s leg and send it off.
so I doubt even Robert Altman would be willing to film it. Unfortunately the genial Mr Altman is no longer with us.
so I doubt even Robert Altman would be willing to film it. Unfortunately the genial Mr Altman is no longer with us.
Although the neo-Thomists play a role in the construction of the essentialist myth, indirectly, they do not, so far as I have encountered, define what species are. So they don’t get mentioned. Dear Dr Marzipan, I will send a native bearer with a copy of the book to your Pharnuggles office. I’d need at least two African swallows, each holding it by the husk, to carry it via airmail. Anyway, I strongly suspect Australian airmail is routed via Inner Mongolia, the Congo, and Tierra del Feugia, so it might be best to just have it sent from the US. But given the vagaries of book production schedules, I doubt we’ll see a physical copy for a while yet.
Congratulations John. I know you put a fair effort into the book. I hope you remember all of the little people when you become a best selling author.;)