The species in biology: what the authors (did not) say before Darwin

Abstract

A critical reading of the works of Linnaeus and his predecessors, his contemporaries demonstrates that we cannot take for granted that the use of the terms genus and species in zoological or botanical literature derives directly and consciously from the tradition of Aristotelian and scholastic logic; that the use of these terms in pre-Linnaean texts on plants or animals always has a taxonomic meaning; that this meaning really corresponds to Linnaeus' use of genus and species; that in the natural sciences the term species has always been restricted to plants and animals, while any use in other fields, for example in mineralogy, would be improper or abusive; that the modern notion of biological species was substantially introduced by Ray or Buffon.