Arbitrary Categorization?

a: species ~
b: planet or moon

What:

"The word 'species' is, like the words 'planet' or 'moon,' a technical term for a concrete phenomenon. One cannot propose a new definition of a planet as "a satellite of a sun that has its own satellite," because this would exclude Venus, and some other planets without moons. A definition of any class of objects must be applicable to any member of this class and exclude reference to attributes not characteristic of this class."


Useful?
Writer: Ernst Mayr
LCC:
Where:
Date: Aug 20 2015 3:44 PM


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