Outline of an Explanatory Account of Cladistic Practice |
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Authors: | Nico M Franz |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Comstock Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA |
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Abstract: | A naturalistic account of the strengths and limitations of cladistic practice is offered. The success of cladistics is claimed
to be largely rooted in the parsimony-implementing congruence test. Cladists may use the congruence test to iteratively refine
assessments of homology, and thereby increase the odds of reliable phylogenetic inference under parsimony. This explanation
challenges alternative views which tend to ignore the effects of parsimony on the process of character individuation in systematics.
In a related theme, the concept of homeostatic property cluster natural kinds is used to explain why cladistics is well suited
to provide a traditional, verbal reference system for the evolutionary properties of species and clades. The advantages of
more explicitly probabilistic approaches to phylogenetic inference appear to manifest themselves in situations where evolutionary
homeostasis has for the most part broken down, and predictive classifications are no longer possible. |
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Keywords: | Classification Congruence test Evolutionary homeostasis Homology Natural kinds Parsimony Phylogeny Projectibility Reference Taxonomy |
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