What, If Anything, is a Higher Taxon?
Dissertation, Cornell University (
1987)
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Abstract
Although the nature of species has been widely discussed, higher taxa have been neglected. Recently, however, the traditional theory of taxa, Evolutionary Taxonomy, has been challenged by a rival Cladism. Cladists and Evolutionary Taxonomists disagree about the nature of higher taxa and about the function of taxonomy. Unfortunately, Cladists' hypotheses about the function of taxonomy are philosophically flawed, and this causes Cladists to misinterpret Evolutionary Taxonomy and to neglect the strongest against Evolutionary Taxonomy. Evolutionary Taxonomy emanated from the evolutionary theories of the Modern Synthesis. Those theories are now being undermined. The flaws in Evolutionary Taxonomy, if there are any, can only be revealed by attending to transformations in the theory of evolution