298 The Process of Evolution 



When we particularize, we often must say "body of water," "dish of 

 food," or "bag of oats." The relator "of" denotes or suggests contents; 

 we must have a "container" for the "portion" of matter described. 

 In Hopi, mass nouns also imply indefiniteness but not lack of outline 

 and size. "Water" always means a specific mass or quantity of 

 water. No "container" is implied. One could give examples almost 

 without end. In Hopi, there is no basis for a formless item such as 

 our "time"; our structuring of time with three verb tenses does not 

 occur. Metaphors involving an imaginary "space" ("this discussion 

 is over my head") are lacking. 



It seems clear that such concepts as Newtonian time, space, and 

 matter are inherent in the language of the Newtonian physicist. A 

 scientist working in a language with very different structure con- 

 ceivably might have been compelled to describe nature in, say, 

 relativistic terms. It also seems clear that much of what we think of 

 as "real," "commonsense," and "beyond doubt" in biology are re- 

 cepts from our language and culture. Biologists have much to learn 

 from the study of the ways other cultures with different languages 

 view nature. Biologists may also benefit from using what is perhaps 

 the only less-biased language presently available to them for describ- 

 ing nature. This language is mathematics. 



SCIENTIFIC BIAS 



Good examples of the effects of language on the biologist's view of 

 nature are not difficult to discover. Biologists have long believed 

 that sexually reproducing organisms occur in distinct clusters or 

 kinds, commonly called species. In the 20-year period between 1937 

 and 1957 outstanding evolutionists such as Theodosius Dobzhansky 

 and Ernst Mayr, taking cognizance of the evolutionary importance 

 of isolation, attempted to develop definitions of the concept species, 

 using genetic criteria. Mayr's short definition, as given in his classic 

 Systematics and the Origin of Species, is the one still employed in 

 essence by the majority of modern evolutionists : 



Species are groups of actually or potentialli/ interbreeding natural 

 populations, which are reproductively isolated jrom other such 

 groups. 



This definition is a description of what is known as the biological- 

 species concept. Its acceptance was responsible for a strong shift of 

 emphasis toward studies of evolving entities in nature rather than 

 the application of static concepts to dried insects and stuffed birds. 

 It was recognized that all other taxonomic categories, such as genera 

 and families, could be adjusted arbitrarily in size. If a worker 

 thought that Homo sapiens and Homo erectus were too different to 



