Ereshefsky, M. (2001). The Poverty of the Linnaean Hierarchy: A Philosophical Study of Biological Taxonomy. Cambridge University Press.

Abstract

The classification and systematization of biological diversity is one of the topics in the philosophy of science where ontological and epistemological questions, as well as debates about the nature of linguistic meaning, converge in a remarkable way. Here, for example, questions arise about the nature of the objects to be classified, how the limits of our knowledge of biological reality affect the selection of possible classification systems, and how the meaning of the terms we use to classify biological objects is established.