The species problem and its logic: Inescapable Ambiguity and Framework-relativity

TL;DR

This paper argues that defining species is inherently ambiguous due to logical constraints, and proposes a framework-relative approach that accepts this ambiguity as unavoidable, challenging traditional taxonomic efforts.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impossibility of a universal species definition and introduces a framework-relative perspective that accounts for inherent ambiguity in taxonomy.

Findings

Species definitions are logically impossible to unify universally.

A framework-relative approach resolves ambiguity in species classification.

Traditional efforts for a definitive species concept are fundamentally flawed.

Abstract

For more than fifty years, taxonomists have proposed numerous alternative definitions of species while they searched for a unique, comprehensive, and persuasive definition. This monograph shows that these efforts have been unnecessary, and indeed have provably been a pursuit of a will o' the wisp because they have failed to recognize the theoretical impossibility of what they seek to accomplish. A clear and rigorous understanding of the logic underlying species definition leads both to a recognition of the inescapable ambiguity that affects the definition of species, and to a framework-relative approach to species definition that is logically compelling, i.e., cannot not be accepted without inconsistency. An appendix reflects upon the conclusions reached, applying them in an intellectually whimsical taxonomic thought experiment that conjectures the possibility of an emerging new human species.