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On Deciding whether Protistans are Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

John R. Gregg
John R. Gregg*
Affiliation:
Zoology Department, Duke University Durham, North Carolina
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Abstract

There is a biological controversy of long standing between proponents of the Wilsonian view that all organisms of a certain class have at least one part that is a cell and proponents of the contradictory, or Dobellian, view that some organisms in the same class have no parts that are cells. The controversy is considered from the standpoint of the methodology of explication. It is concluded that on the grounds of prevalent biological usage, precision, utility and generality the Wilsonian view may be defended successfully against attacks that have been made upon it.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , October 1959 , pp. 338 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © 1959 by Philosophy of Science Association

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