rule of 5 or 6

[Ken Kinman]

     That is interesting, because in my 1994 classification I have on
average about 5-6 Classes per Phylum, and 6-7 Orders per Class:  48 Phyla,
269 Classes, and 1,719 Orders.
     Mayr and other eclecticists believe that classifications should be
somewhat balanced, although Mother Nature often makes this difficult.
Eclectic classifications are better at this than those that are strictly
cladistic (which are much more asymmetric).  Just one more reason that the
latter are less useful, being at odds with the way our brains work best.
                       ------Ken
*******************************************************
Peter Stevens wrote:
  Five (more or less) seems to be a convenient number for our memory
bundling activities; I believe a review of this issue will shortly appear in
Behaviour, Brain and Neuroscience or some such place.
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