The Long Shadow of Metaphysics on Research Programs
The Long Shadow of Metaphysics on Research Programs
This chapter examines the implications of homology as a scientifically credible concept for the metaphysics of evolutionary biology, that is, the question of whether such words as “characters” can refer to real things. It first considers the relationship between philosophy and science before discussing how the notions of class, individuals, and natural kinds relate to the conceptual proposal in this book. To introduce the idea of a class, the chapter looks at the history of the concepts of acids and bases. It then describes the notion of natural kinds and emphasizes the usefulness of definitions and models in the study of character evolution and development. It concludes by arguing that characters can be understood as natural kinds, if the latter notion is appropriately modified.
Keywords: homology, metaphysics, evolutionary biology, characters, philosophy, science, class, individuals, natural kinds, evolution
Princeton Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
