This book is an extended argument for abandoning the various single concepts and the "species" rank. The author proposes that the rank of "species" be replaced by a pluralistic view. In such taxonomy, the smallest identifiable lineages would be used within various divergent phylogenies in a context dependent manner. In such a view, "species" represents different sorts of things depending on the organism/lineage being considered. In practice, this is what is already done although it is not formally recognized.

This open access book explores a wide-ranging discussion about the sociopolitical, cultural, and scientific ramifications of speciesism and world views that derive from it. In this light, it integrates subjects across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.The 21st-century western world is anthropocentric to an extreme; we adopt unreasonably self-centered and self-serving ideas and lifestyles. Americans consume more energy resources per person than most other nations on Earth and have little concept of how human ecology and population biology interface with global...