parsimony/biology

[Kirk Fitzhugh]

At 12:31 PM 2/27/01 +0100, Zdenìk Skála wrote:

> >If we take Skála's statement at face value, then the testing of all
> >explanatory hypotheses in all fields of inquiry are impossible.
>Not exactly - what I have said apply to the historical data, where gathering
>new independent evidence is by definition impossible.

It is not impossible to gather new independent evidence for the testing of 
causal events from the past. This is done all the time, e.g., criminal 
investigations; investigations of plane, train, car accidents; analysis of 
bridge failure. In all these instances one attempts to find evidence in the 
present that constrains the possible causal factors that were present in 
the past. The manner in which it is done in phylogenetics should be no 
different. Maybe a bit more difficult, but in principle no different.

Kirk

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"A logic that tends toward answers and
neglects the questions is a false logic."

Collingwood (1939)

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Kirk Fitzhugh, Ph.D.
Associate Curator of Polychaetes
Research & Collections Branch
Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90007
Phone:   213-763-3233
FAX:     213-746-2999
e-mail:  fitzhugh at bcf.usc.edu
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