My publications at Researchgate • PhilPapers • My Zotero Profile
My books
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Due May 2023
Blurb: Are species worth saving? Can they be resurrected by technology? What is the use of species in biomedicine? These questions all depend on a clear definition of the concept of ‘species’, yet biologists have long struggled to define this term. In this accessible book, John S. Wilkins provides an introduction to the concept of ‘species’ in biology, philosophy, ethics, policymaking and conservation. Using clear language and easy-to-understand examples throughout, the book provides a history of species and why we use them. It encourages readers to appreciate the philosophical depth of the concept as well as its connections to logic and science. For any interested reader, this short text highlights the complexities of a single idea in biology, the problems with the concept of ‘species’ and the benefits of it in helping us to answer the bigger questions and understand our living world.
The audience is for non-philosophers and non-specialists, but I hope it will stimulate specialists as well. This one is affordable.
Published 2022
Blurb: Species, or ‘the Species Problem’, is a topic in science, in the philosophy of science, and in general philosophy. In fact, it encompasses many aspects of the same problem, and these are dealt with in this volume. Species are often thought of as fundamental units of biological matter to be used in ecology, conservation, classification, and biodiversity. The chapters in this book present opposing views on the current philosophical and conceptual issues of the Species Problem in biology.
Divided into four sections, Concepts and Theories, Practice and Methods, Ranks and Trees and Names, and Metaphysics and Epistemologies, the book is authored by biologists, philosophers, and historians, many leaders in their fields. Topics include ontology of species, definitions of both species category and units, species rank, speciation issues, nomenclature, ecology, and species conservation.
Species Problems and Beyond aims to clarify the contemporary issues of the Species Problem. It is ideal for use in upper-level seminars and courses in Evolutionary Biology, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, Systematics and Taxonomy, and Phylogenetics/Cladistics, and for any scholar in these fields.
I coedited this book with Frank Zachos, Vienna, and Igor Pavlinov, Moscow, and I have a chapter “The Good Species” in this volume.
Published 2018
Blurb: Over time the complex idea of “species” has evolved, yet its meaning is far from resolved. This comprehensive work is a fresh look at an idea central to the field of biology by tracing its history from antiquity to today. Species is a benchmark exploration and clarification of a concept fundamental to the past, present, and future of the natural sciences. In this edition, a section is added on the debate over species since the time of the New Synthesis, and brings the book up to date. A section on recent philosophical debates over species has also been added. This edition is better suited non-specialists in philosophy, so that it will be of greater use for scientists wishing to understand how the notion came to be that living organisms form species.
This is an update and expansion of my 2009 book.
Published 2013
Blurb: Discussing the generally ignored issue of the classification of natural objects in the philosophy of science, this book focuses on knowledge and social relations, and offers a way to understand classification as a necessary aspect of doing science.
Coauthored with Malte Ebach. Ignore the penultimate chapter “Radistics”; I do not know what I was thinking.
Published 2009
Blurb: The complex idea of “species” has evolved over time, yet its meaning is far from resolved. This comprehensive work takes a fresh look at an idea central to the field of biology by tracing its history from antiquity to today. John S. Wilkins explores the essentialist view, a staple of logic from Plato and Aristotle through the Middle Ages to fairly recent times, and considers the idea of species in natural history—a concept often connected to reproduction. Tracing “generative conceptions” of species back through Darwin to Epicurus, Wilkins provides a new perspective on the relationship between philosophical and biological approaches to this concept. He also reviews the array of current definitions. Species is a benchmark exploration and clarification of a concept fundamental to the past, present, and future of the natural sciences.
This comes out of my PhD and postdoctoral work under Paul Griffiths.
Published 2009
Blurb: This book was listed as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title in 2011.
Defining Species: A Sourcebook from Antiquity to Today provides excerpts and commentary on the definition of «species» from source material ranging from the Greeks, through the middle ages, to the modern era. It demonstrates that the logical meaning of species is in direct contrast to the use of kind terms and concepts in natural history and biology, and that the myth that biologists or natural historians were ever essentialists about kinds is mistaken.
This one I typeset myself. I am still proud of that.
Published 2010
Blurb: Over the past decade a strident public debate has arisen about the nature and origin of religions. Controversies include how exactly religion evolved, whether by individual or group selection, if it is adaptive, and if not, whether and how it is a side effect of evolution. This volume focuses on the issue of naturalizing religion: on the ways in which cognitive science and social sciences have treated religion as a natural phenomenon. It questions whether religious behaviour, institutions, and experiences can be explained in natural terms. The editor brings together some of the best published work on the definition of ‘religion’, intelligent design and the evolution of religion.
I edited previously published papers. Neil Levy got me this gig.
