The Species Problem

Stamos squarely confronts the problem of determining what a biological species is, whether species are real, and the nature of their reality. He critically considers the evolution of the major contemporary views of species and also offers his own solution to the species problem.

In this provocative work, David N. Stamos tackles the problem of determining exactly what a biological species is: in short, whether species are real and the nature of their reality. Although many have written on this topic, The Species Problem is the only comprehensive single-authored book on this central concern of biology. Stamos critically considers the evolution of the three major contemporary views of species: species nominalism, species as classes, and species as individuals. Finally, he develops his own solution to the species problem, a solution aimed at providing a universal species concept worthy of the Modern Synthesis. This book will be of interest to philosophers of biology and of science in general, to historians of biology, and to biologists concerned with one of the most significant (and practical) conceptual issues in their field.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The Species Problem and the Problem of Universals
Chapter 3 Ontology and Criteria of Reality
Chapter 4 Preliminary Assumptions and Concepts
Chapter 5 Abstract of the Book
Chapter 6 Species Nominalism
Chapter 7 Preliminary Considerations
Chapter 8 Occam and Locke
Chapter 9 Buffon, Lamarck, and Darwin
Chapter 10 Modern Nominalists in Biology
Chapter 11 Species as Classes
Chapter 12 Plato, Aristotle, and Linnaeus
Chapter 13 Species as Elementary Classes
Chapter 14 Species as Cluster Classes
Chapter 15 Species as Ecological Niches
Chapter 16 Problems with Species as Classes
Chapter 17 Species as Individuals
Chapter 18 Precursors from Hegel to Mayr
Chapter 19 Ghiselin, Hull, et al.
Chapter 20 Punctuated Equilibria
Chapter 21 Problems with Species as Individuals
Chapter 22 Species as Sets, Clades, and Lineages
Chapter 23 Species as Relations
Chapter 24 The Origin of an Idea
Chapter 25 Species as Biosimilarity Complexes
Chapter 26 Problems with Species as Relations
Chapter 27 Concluding Remarks