Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
systematic or functional point of view, can give rise to individual
variations.
“These individual differences generally affect what naturalists con-
sider unimportant parts; but I could show by a long catalogue of
facts, that parts which must be called important, whether viewed
under a physiological or classificatory point of view, sometimes
vary in the individuals of the same species. I am convinced that the
most experienced naturalist would be surprised at the number of the
cases of variability, even in important parts of structure, which he
could collect on good authority, as I have collected, during a course
of years. It should be remembered that systematists are far from
being pleased at finding variability in important characters...”
(OS p. 102).
Darwin went a long way with his analysis as he even came to
doubt the objective reality of species. He suggested that their clas-
sification only depended on the subjectivity of the classifier.
“From these remarks it will be seen that I look at the term species
as one arbitrarily given, for the sake of convenience, to a set of indi-
viduals closely resembling each other, and that it does not essen-
tially differ from the term variety, which is given to less distinct and
more fluctuating forms. The term variety, again, in comparison
with mere individual differences, is also applied arbitrarily, for con-
venience' sake”
(OS p. 108).
This nominalist point of view is easily understood in the context
of his theory. For Darwin, the species is the result of a process of nat-
ural selection which only serves to amplify individual differences.
Resemblance between individuals is an indicator of genealogical prox-
imity: classification can only be differential. The concept of species
picks out the differences between populations of organisms which
appear after their multiplication and not an essential identity of these
populations based on the transmission of an unvarying structure. The
species must therefore be understood as a genealogical community.
