Essentialism about biological kinds, defended by Devitt, holds that species membership is grounded in shared intrinsic microstructural properties, not relational reproductive history.
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# Relational
"Relational" means focusing on how things connect to and depend on each other, rather than looking at them in isolation. For example, a relational approach to understanding a person considers their family, friends, work, and community—not just their individual traits. In everyday use, it emphasizes that meaning, value, and identity often come from relationships and interactions rather than existing completely on their own.
Reproductive history(as an alternative basis for determining what species something belongs to)
The ancestry and breeding relationships of an organism—who its parents, grandparents, and evolutionary relatives are.
grounded in(whether distinctness or identity is explained by intrinsic features)
To be explained by or to have its reason or basis in something else—like how a tree being wet is grounded in (explained by) recent rain.
intrinsic properties(Contrasted with structural properties revealed by physics)
Properties which supposedly underlie and account for the structural properties of things.