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Author Topic:   Why heirarchical taxonomy? Linnean system vs. Phylocode?
mark24
Member (Idle past 5225 days)
Posts: 3857
From: UK
Joined: 12-01-2001


Message 6 of 33 (197414)
04-07-2005 9:39 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by gnojek
04-06-2005 4:30 PM


gnojek,
Why continue to bother with the heirarchical Linnean classification system when sometimes it seems that assignments to certain genuses and species seem arbitrary and use the same type subjective classification used to assign species to a certain "kind"?
The Linnaean system is slowly being supplanted by the cladistic system, the only retention being the genus & species binomen. This should remove the arbitrariness of the Linnaean system.
Mark

There are 10 kinds of people in this world; those that understand binary, & those that don't

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by gnojek, posted 04-06-2005 4:30 PM gnojek has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 7 by Chiroptera, posted 04-07-2005 9:57 AM mark24 has replied

  
mark24
Member (Idle past 5225 days)
Posts: 3857
From: UK
Joined: 12-01-2001


Message 8 of 33 (197429)
04-07-2005 10:49 AM
Reply to: Message 7 by Chiroptera
04-07-2005 9:57 AM


Re: It served its purpose
Chiroptera,
Still, one can see why some people would prefer the Linnean system. One really wants to say the lungfish, for example, are obviously fish, and, despite a phylogenic relationship to tetrapods, it does almost seem perverse to group lungfish with mammals as a group that is very separate from the teleosts. Stephen J. Gould even remarks on this in an essay (although I forgot which one).
It does seem wierd that humans ARE Sarcopterygians, but it's only a name of an inclusive group. The problem people have is when they try to jive Linnaean & Cladistics names, end up conflating them, & causing themselves confusion (got the T-shirt). Humans aren't fish! Right? Is there still such a thing as a "fish"?
Mark

There are 10 kinds of people in this world; those that understand binary, & those that don't

This message is a reply to:
 Message 7 by Chiroptera, posted 04-07-2005 9:57 AM Chiroptera has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 9 by Chiroptera, posted 04-07-2005 10:54 AM mark24 has not replied

  
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