Section II
Modern Debates
In this section we review the broad species concepts presently in play. These are
several classes of fundamental concepts, here divided into Reproductive Isolation
Concepts, Evolutionary Concepts, Phylogenetic Concepts, Ecological Concepts, and
a trashcan categorical of Other Concepts. From these a number of subsidiary con-
cepts are composed.
Modern debates follow on from Dobzhansky’s posing of the problem and Mayr’s
advocacy for the Biological Species Concept. I have left out of consideration the
social and political aspects of the debate, as it is still too recent, and there is a dearth
of considered studies regarding it, leaving Hull’s Science as a Process to one side,
since many of the participants in the “systematics wars” have said to me that they
consider it to be one-sided and incorrect in his narrative. I am agnostic about this, as
I was neither a participant nor do I have sufficient information to assess the claim.^1
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Honenberger, Phillip. 2015. Grene and Hull on types and typological thinking in biology.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philoso
phy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 50:13 –25.(^1) But see Honenberger 2015 for a consideration of some of the issues.