infima species

English

Etymology

From Latin infima (“lowest”) + species.

Noun

infima species (plural infimae species)

1. (logic, philosophy, semantics) The narrowest of species; one that that is not a genus to anything else.
   • 1993, Willem Hirs, “XV: The Use of Terminological Principles and Methods in Medicine”, in Helmi B. Sonneveld, Kurt Loening, editors, Terminology: Applications in Interdisciplinary Communication, page 239:

     Every infima species of the adaptation can be related unambiguously to a[n] infima species of the standard.

   • 1998, R. O. Savage, Real Alternatives, Leibniz's Metaphysics of Choice, page 95:

     Combining Leibniz's view about species differentiation with his view that completed individuals constitute infima species, [DM 9; N 326] yields a promising speculation as to why he might hold that any change in property of our Adam would be a different person.

   • 2008, Michael J. Loux, Primary Ousia: An Essay on Aristotle's Metaphysics Z and H, page 4:

     So two things are pivotal in the Categories account of primary ousiai: the idea that the things that are ontologically fundamental are basic subjects, and the idea that the ontologically basic entities are instances or members of their infimae species.

   • 2009, James Porter Moreland, The Recalcitrant Imago Dei, page 124:

     But when Pratt gives illustrations of his claim, he selects different infimae species under the genus 'material substance'.

Antonyms

• summum genus