The Necessity of Treating and Thinking of Species as Individuals and the Importance of Non-operational Lineage Concepts of Species.

Authors: Richard Mayden

Year: 2025

Abstract

The discovery of species and navigating through the numerous species concepts has been a longstanding concern for many, including those working on biodiversity discovery. It is not only confusing to many but also a frustrating task for those practicing the basics of species (or lineage) discovery. I argue that this frustration and confusion arise from a simple misunderstanding of some fundamental yet essential issues involving the unique qualities of “special” entities (living and non-living) in nature that philosophers of science refer to as Individuals. In nature, species are known as Individuals, and Individuals belong to Natural Classes. Entities within a Natural Class include things that participate in natural processes. You cannot definitively define an Individual—period! Individuals have a beginning (speciation) and an end (extinction), and they change over time. They are both temporally and spatially bounded; they are always “slippery,” and humans often feel uncomfortable delineating them. Conversely, there are things we understand well that are not Individuals, which are part of an Artificial Class. These lack a beginning or an end—timeless—and have definitions, but they are not bound by time or space. Humans are very comfortable with Artificial Classes because they are operational. Follow the set of instructions, and you will find things that fit the definition. This fundamental difference underpins decades of controversy. Why? Because most scientists are unfortunately not skilled in the philosophy of science, which offers a valuable perspective. Opportunities to explore the philosophy of science rarely appear in classroom settings. In our context, species in nature are Individuals that cannot be strictly defined. The species category is a Natural Class (not an Individual); Natural Classes consist of things that “contain” entities in nature participating in natural processes—unlike Artificial Classes, which contain things that do not participate in natural processes. The species category, as a Natural Class, requires a definition that does not intentionally exclude what we would intuitively recognize as species; it must have a definition that is not operational. Any concept of species that is easy to use (not a “slippery” concept) and operational cannot serve as the true definition of the Natural Class Species. The Evolutionary Species Concept is the ONLY qualifying definition for this Natural Class.