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Some Problems with the Linnaean Hierarchy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Marc Ereshefsky
Marc Ereshefsky*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy University of Calgary
*
‡Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada.
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Abstract

Most biologists use the Linnaean system for constructing classifications of the organic world. The Linnaean system, however, has lost its theoretical basis due to the shift in biology from creationist and essentialist tenets to evolutionary theory. As a result, the Linnaean system is both cumbersome and ontologically vacuous. This paper illustrates the problems facing the Linnaean system, and ends with a brief introduction to an alternative approach to biological classification.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 186 - 205
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

My thanks to David Hull, Allan Larson, Michael Ruse, and Tony Russell for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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