Though Aristotle's work in zoology was not without errors, it was the greatest biological synthesis of the time, and his work remained the ultimate authority in understanding the secular world until the rise of modern knowledge in the 16th century, and his classification of living organisms contains some elements which still existed in the 19th century. During the medieval period this become incorporated into the idea of the Great Chain of Being. Plant-animals (cnidarians, etc., which superficially resemble plants)Īristotle's ideas were essentially based on the idea of the scala naturae, the "Natural Ladder" according to which the entire natural world could be arranged in a single continuum.Shelled animals (shelled mollusks, echinoderms, etc.).Aquatic arthropods (mostly crustaceans).Land arthropods (insects, arachnids, myriapods).Cetaceans (Aristotle did not realize their mammalian nature).Oviparous quadrupeds (reptiles and amphibians).
He did not classify plants or fungi, but his classification of animals was as follows: Although he observed and wrote about the natural world, he was not a scientist in the Baconian-Galilean mode of empiricism and experimental method rather he had a qualitative and teleological view of nature.Īristotle was the first to give the first detailed classification of living things, and hence the first systematists. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, pp 319–338Ĭampbell CBG, Hodos W (1991) The scala naturae revisited: anagenesis and evolutionary scales in comparative psychology.Photo by Jastrow, via Wikipedia, Public domainĪristotle (384-322 b.c.e.) was a Greek philosopher and polymath, whose writings range across such diverse subjects as physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. In: Nitecki MH (ed) Evolutionary progress. Gould SJ (1988) On replacing the idea of progress with an operational notion of directionality. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Press, IL, pp 75–96 Freeman, New YorkĪyala EJ (1988) Can “progress” be defined as a biological concept? In: Nitecki MH (ed) Evolutionary progress. Wiley, New York, pp 521–553Ĭarroll RL (1988) Vertebrate paleontology and evolution. In: Roth G, Wullimann ME (eds) Brain evolution and cognition. Jerison HJ (2001) The evolution of neural complexity. In: RothG, Wullimann ME (eds) Brain evolution and cognition. Hofman MA (2001) Evolution and complexity of the human brain: some organizing principles.
Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 1–21īutler AB, Hodos W (2005) Comparative vertebrate neuroanatomy: evolution and adaptation, 2nd edn. In: Kesner R, Olton D (eds) Animal cognition. Hodos W, Campbell CBG (1990) Evolutionary scales and comparative studies of cognition. Lovejoy AO (1936) The great chain of being. Hodos W, Campbell CBG (1969) Scala naturae: why there is no theory in comparative psychology.
Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK (Translated by A Platt) Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK (Translated by W Ogle)Īristotle (1912) De Generatione Animalium. Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK (Translated by W Ogle)Īristotle (1912) De Partibus Animalium.
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