Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER 2 PATTERNS OF CLASSIFICATION
- CHAPTER 3 PATTERNS OF PHYLOGENY
- CHAPTER 4 HOMOLOGY AND THE EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION
- CHAPTER 5 GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE
- CHAPTER 6 METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAXONOMY
- CHAPTER 7 METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION: PHENETICS AND CLADISTICS
- CHAPTER 8 METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION: THE CURRENT DEBATE
- CHAPTER 9 CLASSIFICATION AND THE RECONSTRUCION OF PHYLOGENY
- CHAPTER 10 IS SYSTEMATICS INDEPENDENT?
- CHAPTER 11 MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION: DARWINSM AND ITS RIVALS
- CHAPTER 12 MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION: THE SYNTHETIC THEORY
- CHAPTER 13 SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
- CHAPTER 14 PHILOSOPHY AND BIOLOGY
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER 2 PATTERNS OF CLASSIFICATION
- CHAPTER 3 PATTERNS OF PHYLOGENY
- CHAPTER 4 HOMOLOGY AND THE EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION
- CHAPTER 5 GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE
- CHAPTER 6 METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAXONOMY
- CHAPTER 7 METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION: PHENETICS AND CLADISTICS
- CHAPTER 8 METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION: THE CURRENT DEBATE
- CHAPTER 9 CLASSIFICATION AND THE RECONSTRUCION OF PHYLOGENY
- CHAPTER 10 IS SYSTEMATICS INDEPENDENT?
- CHAPTER 11 MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION: DARWINSM AND ITS RIVALS
- CHAPTER 12 MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION: THE SYNTHETIC THEORY
- CHAPTER 13 SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
- CHAPTER 14 PHILOSOPHY AND BIOLOGY
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
There have been many authorities who have asserted that the basis of science lies in counting or measuring, i.e. in the use of mathematics. Neither counting nor measuring can however be the most fundamental processes in our study of the material universe – before you can do either to any purpose you must first select what you propose to count or measure, which presupposes a classification.
(Crowson 1970, p. 2)It is perhaps an analytic statement – that is, self-evidently true – that the only way in which members of our species, Homo sapiens, can order their perceptions of the world and the ideas to which they give rise is to produce a classification. There is every reason to believe that this need also applies to other animals and is by no means confined to those animals closely related to man. It is literally vital to any animal that it must have a series of metaphorical compartments in which it places perceived phenomena – food, drink, shelter, danger, own species (sub-divided as parent, sib, rival, sexual partner, etc.). We also know that with greater intelligence, learning ability, and general mental flexibility, the classifications employed by higher animals, although articulated only in our own species, are more complex and subtle than those of lower animals. In humankind our knowledge is ordered in many precise, ranked classifications, although the individual person is unlikely to be aware of the structure of the classification he or she is using.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992