Metaphysics and the Origin of Species

Michael T. Ghiselin is the author of Intellectual Compromise, The Economy of Nature and the Evolution of Sex, and The Triumph of the Darwinian Method. A Senior Research Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences, he is the recipient of a 1981 MacArthur Prize and was awarded the 1970 Pfizer Prize by the History of Science Society.

• Preface 1. Introduction 2. Beyond Language 3. What an Individual Is 4. What an Individual Is Not 5. Some Definitions of 'Definition' 6. Definitions of 'Species' and Some Other Terms 7. Some Alternatives to the Biological Species Concept 8. Objections to the Individuality Thesis 9. Working Out the Analogies 10. Why Do Species Exist? 11. Objectives and Subjective Systems 12. Natural and Artificial Systems 13. Characters and Homologies 14. Laws of Nature 15. The Principles of Historical Inference 16. Embryology as History and as Law 17. The Artifactual Basis of Macroevolution 18. Toward a Real History of Life Appendix: Aphorisms, Summary and Glossographic References Index

"As important as Michael Ghiselin's work has been, he is an excellent example of someone who really has not received the attention and acclaim that his work deserves. The most innovative scientists and philosophers think highly of his work and cite it frequently, but too often the larger body of scholars is aware of only bits and pieces. This book will set things straight. Ghiselin has been preparing to write this book all his life. It integrates all of the various aspects of his research into a single, unified, and impressive whole." — David L. Hull, Dressler Professor in the Humanities, Northwestern University"…Ghiselin's book has an exceptional intellectual sharpness for a treatise on biology. Almost every page offers an original insight or penetrating argument … there is no 'metaphysical book' more bracing for the philosophy of biology. It is the only one that evolutionary biologists and systematists simply must read." — ISIS"This book will be highly praised by some readers and viciously attacked by others. There is no other such comprehensive treatment in the available literature. The excellent, very extensive cross-references are a particular virtue. The crucial literature is cited for virtually every controversial issue. Thus the book is a most useful introduction to the covered field." — Ernst Mayr, Harvard University