DOCSLIB.ORG

Beyond Set Theory: the Relationship Between Logic and Taxonomy from the Early 1930 to 1960

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Beyond Set Theory: the Relationship Between Logic and Taxonomy from the Early 1930 to 1960 Beyond Set Theory: The relationship between logic and taxonomy from the early 1930 to 1960. by Charissa Sujata Varma A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology University of Toronto © Copyright by Charissa Sujata Varma 2013 Beyond Set Theory: The relationship between logic and taxonomy from the early 1930s to 1960. Charissa Sujata Varma Doctor of Philosophy Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology University of Toronto 2013 Abstract In this dissertation I look at the relationship between logic and taxonomy as taxonomists responded to double attack: an attack on their methodology from the biological community during the 1930s and at the start of a methodological civil war that erupted in late 1950s. According to the usual story, the relationship between logic and taxonomy could not have been worse. Taxonomists were thought to be either mired in Aristotelian essences or lost in some dubious set-theoretic wasteland. This story, however, is now recognized as being a political tool rather than an accurate history and the time is ripe for something new. I examine four cases: British botanist John Gilmour, American paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson, German entomologist Willi Hennig, and American philosopher Morton Beckner that help illustrate the richness of this relationship. These cases will show how different branches of logic successfully played roles in taxonomy’s methodological reform, rather than set-theory playing the dominant and ultimately failing role as the old paradigm. In addition, it will become clear that one reason why this could be done was because many of these taxonomists were part of transient interdisciplinary groups willing to relax the standards of authority within interdisciplinary communities. These changes in authority helped facilitate communication and promote ii knowledge production during this complex time. Taxonomists without the traditionally recognized expertise in logic chose to read logic on the fly, and likewise philosophers and other biologists without established training in taxonomy could enter the debate in significant and productive ways. iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor Prof Mary P. (Polly) Winsor. There are many things I can say about Polly as a supervisor, from her unflinching editorial eye to her inspirational work in history of biology, but it was her ceaseless love, encouragement, and generosity that carried me through this project. She pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of intellectually and creatively, and I am a better historian, philosopher, and writer because of her. Polly didn’t just instill in me a love and passion for history of biology—the practitioners, the organisms, the institutions, the issues—she gave me an intellectual family, and was the perfect matriarch. Like a family, we her students laughed together, cried together, worked together, taught together, published together, travelled together, read each other’s dissertations and articles, and (in some cases) went to each other’s foreign convocations. Keynyn Brysse, Conor Burns, Jamie Elwick, Gillian Gass, Gordon McOuat, and especially Sara Scharf (my dear partner in crime), thank you so much for being my family. Polly, thank you for always being “our mum.” I hope I did you proud. Prof. Paul Thompson, the second member of my supervisory committee, was my rock. His unwavering support and patience with me especially during the most chaotic times of his semesters were rivaled only by his uncanny ability to provide perfectly-timed, exacting, constructive questions that always seem to cut to the heart of the problem. Paul was the perfect balance of administrative magic and philosophical wonder. I am grateful to Prof. Gordon McOuat, the third member of my supervisory committee, for several lively and provoking conversations and exchanges. His work in nineteenth-century biology influenced parts of this project, and as always, I benefited from his feedback and advice. I would like to thank Profs Craig Fraser and Denis Walsh, who served on my oral examination committee, for their insightful questions, and their thoughtful contributions to a stimulating conversation during the oral defense, as well as to my external examiner, Prof. Richard Richards, whose invaluable comments and suggestions have been helpful to this project and will be to future work stemming from this project. The time I spent at the University of Toronto has been rewarding, challenging, and fulfilling. I have benefited from the direction and guidance of an extraordinary supervisory iv committee on this project, and learned from an astonishing group of scholars at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. I conducted much of my research using the University of Toronto’s phenomenal library system, in particular the Fisher Rare Books Library, and I want to thank the many librarians and archivists, Richard Landon in particular, who aided my research. I also want to thank the University of Toronto, the IHPST in particular, for the generous funding and scholarships I have received, specifically the travel grant that allowed me to conduct research in London, England on late nineteenth and early twentieth- century logic, and the internship with Cambridge University to work on the Darwin Correspondence Project. I would also like to thank both the IHPST and the Philosophy Department for providing me with many valuable teaching opportunities (both as a teaching assistant and instructor), especially those that dovetail this project. It has been a true pleasure and honour to teach these students. It was because of their faith in me that I was awarded a University Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching. My time in Toronto was all the more fun because of my fantastic friends, professors, and administrators: Teri Gee, David Gugel, Gavin Hammel, Martha Harris, Angela Heffernan, Drew Hicks, Sarah Hundleby, Lindsay Irvin, Jennifer Keelan, Jessica Lovett, Darcy Otto, Muna Salloum, Jennifer Smolenaars, Colin Stewart, Jonathan Turner, Jai Virdi, Shana Worthen, Prof. Jim Brown, Prof. Bert Hall, Prof. Margaret Hundleby, and Prof. Pauline Mazumdar, you kept me happy and sane. Special thanks are owed to my dear friend Kelli Carr, who kept my head and home in perfect order while I lived in Toronto. That poor girl knows more about nineteenth-century bee taxonomy than any normal person should. She is a saint, and heaven knows she suffered like one with me as her roommate, especially during the ugly Linnaeus years. The final stage of my writing was completed in Windsor, Ontario. Dr. John Strang kept me on track, which was no small feat. For more weeks than I can count, we were inseparable— John in his office and me in the autism testing room. Thank you, John, for the talks, the laughs, the advice, and our Friday afternoons. My life in Windsor was richer because of my people, so thank you Victoria Cross, Jodi House, Stephen Pender, Bob Pinto, Christine Purcell, Jeff Noonan, Cory Saunders, Josie Watson, and especially my boys Len Wallace and the mighty Tory James. My greatest debt is to my best friend, Catherine Hundleby. Catherine’s friendship and strength sustained me through degrees, moves, heartbreaks, life, and deaths. She is incredible. It is no surprise that I lived under her roof during the final stages of this project. v Finally, I would like to thank my family. I want to thank Bob and Lynn Ross, and David and Kathy Ross not just for their unconditional love and support, but for their tireless efforts to keep us all together as one huge family. You have all done brilliantly. I would not have made it through this without you. I would also like to thank Alakh and Colleen Varma, and Achla and Bageshwari Sinha for their love and support with all my decisions and ambitions, and for holding my hand every time I needed it. Thanks to my cousins Jonathan, Allison and her husband Matt, Heather and her husband Cormac, Andrew, Anvita and Anup for being what I needed when I needed it, which was often just hilarious. Seriously, you people are hilarious. Last, but certainly not least, many thanks to my siblings Kara and her husband Rich, and Adam for their patience, understanding and love for they had the enormously difficult task of putting up with me on this long journey. My sweet, baby India, your smile lights up my day like nothing else. My darling, darling Isaac, your beautiful face always reminds me there is joy in my life. And monster trucks. vi To my mother, Annette Margaret Styles (1946-2010) Not a word of this could have been written without you. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss you with all my heart. vii Table of Contents « Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research question ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Reasons for needed work
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Suppressing Synonymy with a Homonym: the Emergence of the Nomenclatural Type Concept in Nineteenth Century Natural History
    Journal of the History of Biology (2016) 49:135–189 Ó The Author(s). This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com 2015 DOI 10.1007/s10739-015-9410-y Suppressing Synonymy with a Homonym: The Emergence of the Nomenclatural Type Concept in Nineteenth Century Natural History JOERI WITTEVEEN Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected] Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands Department of Psychology Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands Abstract. ‘Type’ in biology is a polysemous term. In a landmark article, Paul Farber (Journal of the History of Biology 9(1): 93–119, 1976) argued that this deceptively plain term had acquired three different meanings in early nineteenth century natural history alone. ‘Type’ was used in relation to three distinct type concepts, each of them associated with a different set of practices. Important as Farber’s analysis has been for the historiography of natural history, his account conceals an important dimension of early nineteenth century ‘type talk.’ Farber’s taxonomy of type concepts passes over the fact that certain uses of ‘type’ began to take on a new meaning in this period. At the closing of the eighteenth century, terms like ‘type specimen,’ ‘type species,’ and ‘type genus’ were universally recognized as referring to typical, model members of their encom- passing taxa. But in the course of the nineteenth century, the same terms were co-opted for a different purpose. As part of an effort to drive out nomenclatural synonymy – the confusing state of a taxon being known to different people by different names – these terms started to signify the fixed and potentially atypical name-bearing elements of taxa.
    [Show full text]
  • James Douglas Ogilby
    The Names You Know, the People You Don’t: James Douglas Ogilby As mentioned, at the beginning of the year I had mapped out the articles I was going to write for both The Year of The Rainbowfish and The Names You Know, The People You Don’t. My mistake was in not sharing that information with our esteemed editor, Klaus Steinhaus, because he informed me that he had prepared an article on The Names You Know, The People You Don’t for the January 2012 edition of Tank Talk, and the person that article was on was the same person I had originally intended to write about for the December 2011 edition. Since Klaus had finished his article first, it is only fair that I not steal his thunder by writing on that person a second time. But that threw all my planning out the window. I now needed a different person to write an article about. When I laid out my plans for this series of articles, I had put some criteria on my selection of the people I would write about. The name of the person being honoured needed to be relatively common, preferably with freshwater fish that we were all familiar with. But with the interruption of my well laid plans, I started casting around to find another person to write about. After a couple hours of surfing, I found this person to write about, and while we may not be overly familiar with the person being honoured, the story behind the name is extremely interesting.
    [Show full text]
  • Knowledge and Pleasure at Regent's Park
    KNOWLEDGE AND PLEASURE AT REGENT'S PARK The Gardens of the Zoological Society of London during the Nineteenth Century Sofia Åkerberg KNOWLEDGE AND PLEASURE AT REGENT'S PARK The Gardens of the Zoological Society of London during the Nineteenth Century Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av rektorsämbetet vid Umeå universitet för avläggande av filosofie doktorsexamen offentligen försvaras i Humanisthuset, hörsal F tisdagen den 4 december 2001, klockan 10.15 av Sofia Åkerberg Sofia Åkerberg, Knowledge and Pleasure at Regent's Park: The Gardens of the Zoobgical Society of London during the Nineteenth Century English text Department of Historical Studies, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden Monograph 2001. 254 pages Idéhistoriska skrifter nr 36 ISBN: 91-7305-147-0 ISSN: 0280-7646 Abstract The subject of this dissertation is the Zoological Gardens of the Zoological Society of London (f. 1826) in the nineteenth century. Located in Regent s Park, it was the express purpose of the Gardens (f. 1828) to function as a testing-ground for acclimatisation and to demonstrate the scientific impor­ tance of various animal species. The aim is t o analyse what the Gardens signified as a recreational, educational and scientific institution in nineteenth-century London by considering them from four different perspectives: as a pan of a newly-founded society, as a part of the leisure culture of mid-Victorian London, as a medi­ ator of popular zoology and as a constituent of the Zoological Society's scientific ambitions. After an introduction which describes the devlopment of European zoos, Chapter two recapitu­ lates the early years of the Society and the Gardens.
    [Show full text]
  • The Zoological Contributions of Andrew Smith (1797–1872) with an Annotated Bibliography and a Numerical Analysis of Newly Described Animal Species
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 2017 Vol. 72, No. 2, 105–173, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0035919X.2016.1230078 The zoological contributions of Andrew Smith (1797–1872) with an annotated bibliography and a numerical analysis of newly described animal species Kees Rookmaaker* Chief Editor, Rhino Resource Center, Spain *E-mail: [email protected] The army surgeon Andrew Smith studied South African fauna when he was the first Superintendent of the South African Museum in Cape Town. He visited some interior parts of the country, especially as commander of the Expedition for Exploring Central Africa in 1834–1836. His early work was published in rare and obscure journals printed in Cape Town, like the Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser, the South African Commercial Advertiser and the South African Quarterly Journal. After his return to England in 1836, he exhibited animals found during his expeditions and he started to publish the Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa, which appeared in 28 parts between 1838 and 1849 and was splendidly illustrated by George Henry Ford. The bibliography of all works authored by Smith is reconstructed here in detail, including for the first time items published in the Kaapstads Courant en Afrikaansche Berigter. It is found that he was the author of 142 works between 1819 and 1849. In these works, he described many new species. The name Accipiter selbyii A.Smith, 1829 was rediscovered. Some of the new names are now considered unavailable for purposes of zoological nomenclature, due to incorrect spellings, names without proper descriptions or emendations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Correspondence of Hugh Edwin Strickland
    The Correspondence of Hugh Edwin Strickland CALENDAR OF THE SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE OF HUGH EDWIN STRICKLAND IN THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE by Dr. L.C. Rookmaaker Archivist and Historian of the Museum University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge 2010 University Museum of Zoology Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3EJ United Kingdom © University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge 2010 The conservation and archival review of the Strickland Archive was supported by the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust, the Newton Trust, PRISM Fund of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Crotch Fund of the Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge. FOREWORD Hugh Strickland is a particularly important figure for the University Museum of Zoology. The bequest of his specimens was a significant addition to our bird collection, and the endowed Strickland Curatorship of Ornithology has ensured that the whole of the bird collection has been curated well to the present day. The Strickland Archive provides insight into both the man and his collection, and touches on major issues of nineteenth century biology, including the meaning of classification, the laws of nomenclature, and the signi- ficance of extinct species. This calendar makes the contents of the Strickland Archive widely accessible for the first time. It was prepared in conjunction with a project to conserve the archive, and we thank the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust, the PRISM Fund of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, the Newton Trust of the University of Cambridge, and the Crotch Fund of the Museum of Zoology for making this entire project possible. I am particularly indebted to Dr.Kees Rookmaaker, archivist of the Museum, who worked on the project with his customary skill and dedication, carrying it forward with great efficiency, and sharing with us all his enthusiasm for the project.
    [Show full text]
  • JOURNAL of the AUSTRALIA NEW GUINEA FISHES ASSOCIATION Incorporated Registration No
    VOLUME TWENTY-EIGHT NUMBER ONE MARCH 2014 JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIA NEW GUINEA FISHES ASSOCIATION incorporated Registration No. ACO27788J Melanotaenia ogilbyi from the Timika River (see Article page 783). Jerry Allen Main features in this issue: MABUIAG ISLAND FISH SURVEY Glynn Aland 774 THE NAMES YOU KNOW, THE PEOPLE YOU DON’T: JAMES DOUGLAS OGILBY Derek P. S. Tustin 783 Aponogeton species – in situ – (see article page 774) G.A. 773 MABUIAG ISLAND FISH SURVEY by Glynn Aland In March 2008 I attended a reunion with my siblings, Bram (adopted brother), Kieran and Dione (natural brother and sister) to commemorate the passing of our deceased mother. We decided to re-visit the Torres Straits with a brief stop off at a number of islands, one of which was Mabuiag Island, where Bram's natural families' ancestral roots were based. Mabuiag Island is sited mid-way between Cape York and Papua New Guinea. It is a dry island and traditionally water during drought times was found by digging wells (Repu pers comms 2008). Mabuiag is historically important to the indigenous history of the Torres Straits, with the location giving the residents arguably the best access to the shallow reefs and richest turtle and dugong feeding grounds. The abundant marine food reserves appear to have given the past residents “the edge” – they were feared for their raids from the tip of Cape York to the Fly River area of Papua New Guinea. This warlike history was curtailed with the settlement of the Torres Straits by missionaries and obviously the introduction of big guns, cannon and modern sail boats (1800’s era).
    [Show full text]