Systematic Generalization, Historical Fate, and the Species Problem
Systematic Generalization, Historical Fate, and the Species Problem
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系统概括、历史命运和物种问题
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发表时间：
1993
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通讯作者：
R. O’Hara
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作者：
R. O’Hara
物种问题是自然史上最古老的争论之一。它的持续存在表明，它不仅仅是一个事实或定义的问题。当物种问题被看作是自然系统的一个表现问题时，它就有了相当多的解释（格里菲斯，1974年，生物学报。23：85-131; de Queiroz，1998，Philos. Sci. 55：238-259）。正如地图是地球的表示，并服从于所谓的制图概括，自然系统的图表（进化树）也是进化编年史的表示，并服从于制图概括的时间版本，可以称为系统概括。制图归纳是基于对地理重要性的判断，而系统归纳则是基于对历史重要性的判断，这些判断是以叙述性句子表达的（sensu Danto，1985年，《叙述与知识》，哥伦比亚大学出版社，纽约）。在更高的系统层次上，这些叙述性句子是常规的和回顾性的，但在接近“物种”层次时，它们变成了前瞻性的，也就是说，依赖于对未来的期望。预期叙述句子的真实性在逻辑上是无法确定的，因为所有常见的物种概念都依赖于预期叙述，所以它们中的任何一个都不可能精确地应用。
The species problem is one of the oldest controversies in natural history. Its persistence suggests that it is something more than a problem of fact or definition. Considerable light is shed on the species problem when it is viewed as a problem in the representation of the natural system (sensu Griffiths, 1974, Acta Biotheor. 23: 85-131; de Queiroz, 1998, Philos. Sci. 55: 238-259). Just as maps are representations of the earth, and are subject to what is called cartographic generalization, so diagrams of the natural system (evolutionary trees) are representations of the evolutionary chronicle, and are subject to a temporal version of cartographic generalization which may be termed systematic generalization. Cartographic generalization is based on judgements of geographical importance, and systematic generalization is based on judgements of historical importance, judgements expressed in narrative sentences (sensu Danto, 1985, Narration and knowledge, Columbia Univ. Press, New York). At higher systematic levels these narrative sentences are conventional and retrospective, but near the “species” level they become prospective, that is, dependent upon expectations of the future. The truth of prospective narrative sentences is logically indeterminable in the present, and since all the common species concepts depend upon prospective narration, it is impossible for any of them to be applied with precision.