[Taxacom] Monophyly is testable?

[Frederick W Schueler]

Bob Mesibov wrote:

> We do not do 'real, hard science' because we can't. Unless we ignore
> evolution entirely and work only with non-systematic classifications,
> what we are doing is historical research, and history does not lend
> itself to hypothesis testing a la physics and chemistry. We infer and we
> hope for the best.

* the historical sciences are the hard sciences exactly because one 
can't go back in time to test hypotheses directly. Physics and chemistry 
are ranked among the easy sciences because they deal with matters of 
universal law, where hypotheses can be tested directly, anywhere and 
anytime. Historical sciences aren't less scientific because their 
hypotheses can't be tested directly: they're just harder.

imho,

fred.
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