A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Biological Taxonomy

Abstract

The discipline of biological taxonomy is tasked with cataloguing and classifying biodiversity. It does this mainly by delimiting and describing species. However, as discipline, it is hampered by serious internal disagreements, both about general principles and about particular species delimitations. These disagreements cause confusion in other biological subdisciplines, as for example conservation biology, evolutionary biology, and ecology, who rely on taxonomic work. In the past, philosophers of biology, taxonomists, and theoretical biologists have regularly discussed these issues, and the confusion they cause. Much attention went in that sense to the question what species exactly are. However, so-called species concepts are but one element of contention in taxonomy. For example concrete methodological choices, and the role of value judgements in taxonomy, are similarly subject to disagreement. This project aims to draw a more complete, and more accurate image of the problems of taxonomy. It also has the ambition to formulate workable solutions. For this, biological and philosophical perspectives will be integrated.