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Addressing the speciation mess: View species as models?

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The abstract of a new paper, “Species as Models” by Jun Otsuka of Kyoto University (PhilSci Archive, 2018):

This paper argues that biological species should be construed as abstract models, rather than biological or even tangible entities. Various (phenetic, cladistic, biological etc.) species concepts are defined as set-theoretic models of formal theories, and their logical connections are illustrated. In this view organisms relate to a species not as instantiations, members, or mereological parts, but rather as phenomena to be represented by the model/species. This sheds new light on the long-standing problems of species and suggests their connection to broader philosophical topics such as model selection, scientific representation, and scientific realism. More.

Readers may be able to explain what light it sheds but at least Otsuka realizes that there is a problem with the concept of speciation, as currently used.

Hat tip: Pos-darwinista

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See also: A physicist looks at biology’s problem of “speciation” in humans

Comments
I believe this mean species cannot be created through evolution. As an independent model, the law of information non growth says chance and necessity cannot create mutual information with species.EricMH
October 23, 2018
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Those that believe the “reproductive isolation” story point to minor adaptations, which they call “speciation” (implying stability) and then ask us to extrapolate these small changes into the dramatic transmutations imagined yet never observed by Darwin or his followers. This is a classic trick - employed extensively by magicians, cinematographers and con artists among others - where one thing is shown and the brain then “sees” another that is not there. http://nonlin.org/speciation-problems/Nonlin.org
October 22, 2018
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