Genes, categories, and species : the evolutionary and cognitive causes of the species problem / Jody Hey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hey, Jody.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Species.

Physical Description:

xvii, 217 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.

Summary:

This book is a thorough re-examination of the "species problem," the continuing disagreement among biologists about how best to identify species and what constitutes useful and genuine biological divisions of groups and organisms. This book contributes to our understanding of the scientific issues related to the species concept through an exploration of the reality of biological diversity and of the mental processes behind the ways we recognize species, and how we establish typological categories generally. The text develops a theory of evolutionary groups (groups of DNAs that compete and share in genetic drift and adaptation), and revisits the major issues of modern phylogeny, systematics, and evolutionary biology through this framework.

Contents:

Part I The Hidden Question

1. The Species Problem 3

2. The Mode of Ignorance 15

3. The Theory of Life 27

Part II Species in Nature and within the Mind

4. Categories 45

5. Typological Thinking about Species 61

6. Biological Diversity 67

7. Recombination and Biological Species 88

8. The Cause of the Species Problem 105

9. The Origin of Natural Kinds 111

Part III Living with the Species Problem

10. Phylogeny 133

11. Systematics 145

12. Evolutionary Biology 159

13. What Are Species? What Are Taxa? 169

14. What Is to Be Done? 180.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-211) and index.

ISBN:

0195144775

OCLC:

44969163