Yuichi Amitani

Yuichi’s specialty is philosophy of biological systematics. He is also interested in evolutionary explanation of human rationality (e.g., fast and frugal heuristics).

His research project is to analyze the concept of species as a `proxy’ concept and apply the analysis to other concepts in science. In the dissertation he described how biologists communicate concerning species when they have no particular definition of ‘species,’ and argued that the notion of “good species” is a prototype of the concept species as explicated in cognitive psychology. To extend this approach, he plans to explore the role played by species as what he calls a “proxy concept.” The need for a proxy concept arises when there are competing definitions associated with the concept, and no consensus as to which definition is correct. It stands in for a definition and thus helps biologists communicate concerning theories of speciation and species diversity, all the while disagreeing about the definitions of ‘species.’

When Yuichi is not doing research, he likes to run and swim. He also loves to watch professional Shogi (a Japanese version of chess) matches via Internet. He used to do tea ceremonies for a few years but is afraid he has forgotten everything he learned.

After finishing his Center post-doc, Yuichi accepted the post of Researcher at the Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University followed by an Associate Professorship in the Faculty of Bioindustry at Tokyo University of Agriculture.