Jody Hey Evolutionary Genetics

Professor - Department of Genetics - Rutgers University

Genes, Categories and Species: the Evolutionary and Cognitive Causes of the Species Problem

2001

ISBN 0195144775

Selected Comments

"In this important and refreshing view of the species debate, Jody Hey draws on a range of philosophical and evolutionary arguments to argue convincingly . . ."--Heredity

“Hey draws on discoveries from diverse fields of study, principally psychology and philosophy. These discoveries provide support for the position that our conception of species as categories is a basic by-product of the way we think, and they suggest that we erect representations of categories in the mental process of devising them.” -Science

"This book links together philosophy, linguistics, and biology in an innovative fashion to arrive at a resolution of the long-standing "species question" of biology. Hey is able to frame his arguments in a style that makes what might otherwise be impenetrable, engaging. It will stimulate useful discussion and insight into the history of science, the physics-envy of ecologists, and the ability of scientists to be truly objective. A thought-provoking and profoundly insightful work."--Choice

“.. a provocative new book that shows how our cognitive wiring often dictates the way we divvy up nature.” - The Atlantic Monthly

From the Back Cover

"Biologists and philosophers have spent much effort in trying to compress all the complexities of evolutionary divergence into a simple definition of the word 'species'. Jody Hey argues that such attempts cannot succeed. He draws on a broad range of ideas to give a refreshingly original view of the 'species problem': his book deserves to be widely read."

--Nick Barton, University of Edinburgh

"Do we really need another book about species? I think we need this one. Jody Hey has something new and illuminating to say."

-- John Maynard Smith, University of Sussex (From the Forward).