Pre-Modern Seminar No 30: Edit Talpsepp

On Monday February 17th PhD Edit Talpsepp from the the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tartu will give a talk called:

“Pre-Darwinian taxonomies and the 'Darwinian revolution'.”

Image

The seminar will take place in the library of Skandinavistika (Ülikooli 17, 3rd floor, room 305) at 18.15.
 

Edit has sent us a short presentation of the lecture:

“It is a common assumption that the classification principles and reasoning of pre-Darwinian biologists-taxonomists were sharply inconsistent with evolutionary theory, the main accusation being their essentialist thinking concerning biological species. Essentialism is a doctrine according to which all the members of a kind must possess a certain essential property that is necessary for their belonging to this kind. Biological essentialism is empirically incorrect, but also brings along certain conceptual issues – for instance the sharp boundaries and fixity of species – that do not fit   into Darwinian world-view. The advent of evolutionary theory was supposed to be a really revolutionary event that turned everything upside down. To a certain extent it was indeed the case; however, there are several reasons to suppose that the 'Darwinian revolution' was not as radical as usually depicted. In my talk I will give an overview of the classification principles of the main pre-Darwinian taxonomists, demonstrating why some authors have described these as 'non-essentialist', and also characterize the gradual nature of the rise of evolutionary theory.”

Edit Talpsepp is researcher at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tartu. She took her PhD in 2013 at the University of Bristol. Her field of specialization is philosophy of science, mainly biology.

Listen to a radio-programme in Estonian about a similar topic Edit Talpsepp discusses. Programme "Labor. Elurikkuse väljavaated. Bioloogiline essentsialism.", March 16th in Vikerraadio.

Everybody is welcome!