Philosophical study of the roles non-definitional aspects of a concept play in science: the case of biological systematics

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02137
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Philosophy/Ethics
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture
• Principal Investigator: AMITANI Yuichi 東京農業大学, 生物産業学部, 准教授 (00643222)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 伊勢田 哲治 京都大学, 文学研究科, 准教授 (80324367)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 種 / 定義 / 還元主義 / プロトタイプ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research project we studied the roles non-definitional aspects of a scientific concept play in science by taking the concept of species in biological systematics as an example. The main findings of this project are twofold. First, individual definitions of species can be seen as ways of ''precisifying'' the (somewhat vague) content of the general concept of species, just as can be seen in vague predicates like 'bold.' Secondly, if you carefully observe how biologists do their research by using the concept of species, for instance, in the study of speciation, they may be more interested in understanding the underlying processes behind the phenomenon in question than the question of whether and when one species becomes two.

Free Research Field

科学哲学（生物学の哲学）

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的意義は主に以下の二つである。(一)本研究では一般種概念と個々の種の定義の間の関係を精緻化の点から明らかにしたが、この関係は、他分野の様々な概念――「遺伝子」、「合理性」（経済学・心理学）など――にも見られ、本研究の成果をそれらの概念に適用できる可能性がある。(二)本研究ではパーフィット的還元主義を生物種に適用した。しかし「ひと」「種」と同様の理論的役割を果たしている概念は他にも見られるので、そうした対象に還元主義的アイデアを適用する可能性が開けた。