hypothetical construct

[sylvia hope]

          A couple of people objected rightly to my distinguishing
          hypothesis from hypothetical contruct.  The point I meant to
          make is that the term the term "synapomorphy" reifies the
          idea of homology.  It makes a relationship of homology seem
          to be a real, solid thing, whereas it is really only an idea
          about the correspondence among organisms - there is no real
          entity there.  Reification is common in an operational
          approach.  It can lead via subtle suggestive power to too
          much confidence in a finding.

          Thanks Jim Whitfield for the distinctions re
          bootstrapping .