Abstract

In the 1970s, the position that species are natural kinds characterized by essences came to be challenged, and was replaced by the view that species are individuals. To date, this remains the dominant position, at least among biologists, despite influential arguments that species can be construed as homeostatic property cluster kinds (employing a revised notion of essence). Recent philosophical discussions have broadened the scope by articulating a neo-Aristotelian essentialism for species, developing a post-essentialist account of human nature, and scrutinizing temporal persistence conditions for species in the light of species de-extinction efforts. Yet most such current discussions concerning species have not relied on the notion of an essence, which also parallels recent accounts of natural kinds in the philosophy of science.