[Taxacom] "Bar Code" can track Nature's Inventory

[Don.Colless at csiro.au]

Kirk Fitzhugh wrote:

***Worse yet, all this depends upon one's definition of the term 
'species.'  It makes no sense to claim a solution when we've not yet 
settled on the nature of the problem.***

I have recently suggested that such problems can be avoided by distinguishing between "definition", for use in purely theoretical contexts, and "diagnosis", which seeks to identify the mundane application of a term. The first applies conditions that are necessary and sufficient; the second applies a set of alternative conditions, of which some may not be necessary and none are (individually) sufficient. The latter is just the old "polythetic definition" from NT days.

For a full outline of my position, see Biol. & Philos. 21:353 - 367; or I can send you an electronic version.

Don Colless,
Div of Entomology, CSIRO,
GPO Box 1700,
Canberra. 2601.
Email: don.colless at csiro.au
Tuz li munz est miens envirun