Putnam on taxonomic terms

Terms with respect to which we defer to experts include both technical terms in science and such terms as ‘elm’ or ‘beech’ (in the United States, at least, most people cannot tell an elm from a beech, but anyone who knows that ‘elm’ and ‘beech’ are the names of common sorts of deciduous trees counts as understanding them)…. Still, the great majority of the terms we employ are neither analytically defined nor such that we need to call on an expert to advise us in their application in everyday use.

Hilary Putnam. “XV—Pragmatism.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 95, no. 1 (June 1, 1995): 291–306, p298.

Bear this in mind when debating whether dinosaurs and birds or humans are apes…