The Development of Biological Systematics: Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, Nature, and the Natural System - Hardcover

Stevens, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231064403 ISBN 13: 9780231064408

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1994

Synopsis

A reevaluation of the history of biological systematics that discusses the formative years of the so-called natural system of classification in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Shows how classifications came to be treated as conventions; systematic practice was not linked to clearly articulated theory; there was general confusion over the "shape" of nature; botany, elements of natural history, and systematics were conflated; and systematics took a position near the bottom of the hierarchy of sciences.

About this title

Review

"Stevens has done the history of [biological systematics] much service by providing both a new commentary on this neglected scientist and the translations of Jussieu's early works." -- "Nature"

Synopsis

This treatise suggests a re-evaluation of the history of biological systematics since 1789, for the first time linking the systematic theory and practice of Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu to his belief that the living world was a gapless continuum of form. The author shows how Jussieu's approach was widely accepted and persisted throughout the 19th century, despite the growing realization that there were in fact more or less discrete groups in nature. Jussieu's systematic theory and practice are related to his general views of the living world.

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231064403
• ISBN 13: 9780231064408
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 616