Species Problem

Igor Ya. Pavlinov was, until his retirement in 2018, a leading researcher and chief of the Mammal Division at the Zoological Museum at the Lomonosov Moscow State University. Currently, he is the curator of mammals at this museum. His principal research interests are in theoretical taxonomy and phylogenetics, systematics of mammals, and morphometrics. He is the author of several dozen books on natural history, including: Cladistic Analysis: Methodological Aspects (1990), Evolution of Life (2001), Systematics of Mammals of the World (2003), Foundation of the Contemporary Phylogenetics (2005), Nomenclature in Systematics (2015) and its successor Taxonomic Nomenclature—What's in a Name: Theory and History (2022), Foundation of Biological Systematics (2018) and its successor Biological Systematics: History and Theory (2021), Mammals of Russia: A Reference and Guide (2019), several books on particular orders and families of mammals, etc.

• PREFACE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1. THE SPECIES PROBLEM: IN BROAD STROKES ON A CONCEPTUAL HISTORICAL CANVAS 1.1. Developing cognitive situation1.1.1. Structure of cognitive situation1.1.2. Species, species concept, species problem1.2. History on a conceptualistic account 1.3. A historical narrative of the species problemCHAPTER 2. ANTIQUE NATURAL PHILOSOPHY: SPECIES AS EIDOS 2.1. Classical period: the birth of genos and eidos2.1.1. Plato’s eidology2.1.2. Aristotle’s ousiology2.1.3. Aristotelian polysemy: the problem arises2.1.4. Theophrastus’ Enquiry into Plants2.2. Neoplatonists: Porphyry's questionsCHAPTER 3. THE MIDDLE AGES: SPECIES AS UNIVERSALIA 3.1. An eve of scholasticism: the beginning of genus and species 3.2. Realism: species really exists3.3. Conceptualism: species concept refers to something real3.4. Nominalism: species concept refers to nothing real3.5. Genus-species schemeCHAPTER 4. THE RENAISSANCE AND THE EARLY MODERN TIMES: SPECIES AS CLASSIFICATION UNIT 4.1. The Renaissance turn and the "second" scholasticism4.2. The early Modern Times: natural-classificatory dualism4.3. The origin of systematics: species of the living 4.3.1. Herbal epoch as a precursor4.3.2. From Cesalpino to Ray: a scholastic legacy4.3.3. Tournefort and Linnaeus: disconnection of genus and species4.3.4. Adanson, Jussieu, etc.: the birth of natural systematics4.3.5. "Ladderists" against "Systemists"CHAPTER 5. THE MODERN TIMES: SPECIES AS BIOLOGICAL UNIT 5.1. The forerunners: initial routs of objectivation of biological species5.1.1. Biblical motifs5.1.2. Generative idea5.2. The 19th century and beyond: biologization of the species problem5.2.1. Evolutionary idea: species as an actor of biological evolution 5.2.2. Ecological idea: species as a component of ecosystem5.3. Biosystematics and others: fall and rise of species5.4. "Multiplication of essences": the kinds of speciesCHAPTER 6. THE CONTEMPORARY: THE NEWEST ISSUES 6.1. Species definition: a conceptual pyramid6.2. Species ontology: new questions6.3. The "new essentialism": an evolving specieshood?6.4. If not species, then what?REFERENCES INDEX