ABSTRACT
In the conclusion of this book, a brief summary of the neo-Aristotelian theory of biological natural kind essentialism thus far proposed is given. The controversial nature of this book’s aims and methodology are then discussed, especially in relation to past philosophical theories of its ilk. Some distinctions are then made concerning the implications of that theory, and its relation to a few positions with which it is commonly associated—namely, vitalism and eternalism—are briefly addressed. In clarifying the book’s ambitions to produce a novel theory in the tradition of empirically informed metaphysics, the scientific and philosophical implications of this theory are discussed: it is argued that that while accepting this theory requires no scientific paradigm shift, it may very well require a reorienting of our philosophical conception of the biological realm.
