Carl von Linne: The Development of the Idea of Binomial Nomenclature

Abstract

Due to binomial classification system defined by Carl von Linne, it has been shown that living things that were thought to be independent from each other are actually in a relationship. This -binomial classification- idea corresponds to a leap in the history of human thought. Carl von Linne-s original idea is a product of the specific conditions of the period, particularly the renaissance and reform movements and geographical discoveries, rather than an idea he produced alone. These movements are part of a chain of ideas that stretches from antiquity to the Medieval and then to the period called the Enlightenment. The aforementioned transformations generally affected the scientist, albeit indirectly, even in geographies far from Sweden, where Carl von Linne spent most of his life. As such, the binomial classification system stands before us as a result of scientific breakthroughs in central Europe. In this study, it will be tried to be explained by taking the opus magnum of Carl von Linne as an example, taking into account the course of scientific developments, which we can attribute to the European civilization, and the philosophical and social texture.