Of names and committees and people and ?

[Andrew Mitchell]

Norbert Kondla wrote:
<snipped>
>
>5.	Nomenclature and taxonomy is not rocket science; it strikes me as
>more dynamic opinion than science.  And one could argue that it is not even
>science if one defines science as that which involves use of the
>experimental method.  From my perspective this whole topic is about
>decision-making and consensus-building --- or the lack thereof :-)
>

To lump "taxonomy" in with nomenclature and say that neither is a science
smacks of anti-intellectualism. While some taxonomy papers (mostly in low
impact journals) are indeed thick on opinion and thin on hard evidence this
is just bad science. So blame particular authors, reviewers and editors,
but don't slate taxonomy. Taxonomic questions can be addressed with the
scientific method as even the quickest glance in a decent taxonomic journal
will confirm.

I agree that taxonomy is not rocket science in one sense though (not the
sense you meant):  Taxonomy is a lot harder because definitive answers are
extremely difficult (but not impossible) to get.  It's not just a case of
plugging numbers into an equation to determine whether your rocket will
generate enough thrust to carry a payload into orbit. Instead one must
reconstruct historical events in the evolutionary history of life from
sometimes conflicting clues.

=================================================================

                                                \   /
Andrew Mitchell                        _____     \ /     _____
Department of Biological Sciences     /     `)_  O^O  _(`     \
CW-405 Biological Sciences Building  /         \( = )/         \
University of Alberta               (           ( = )           )
Edmonton, T6G 2E9                    <---------//_=_\\--------->
Canada                                \       / |___| \       /
                                       \     /  |___|  \     /
Phone: (780) 492-0587                   *___~   |___|   ~___*
Fax: (780) 492-9234                              \_/
E-mail: am16 at ualberta.ca                          U

=================================================================