[Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN

[Stephen Thorpe]

At the end of the day, it is in a taxonomist's own interests to follow the Code, or risk (1) being branded as unprofessional, and/or (2) having someone else come along and renaming the taxa, which will then carry the second person's name (these days, often a person or three from Turkey). Fortunately, the number of taxonomists who still just don't care is small, but nonzero!

________________________________________
From: mivie at montana.edu [mivie at montana.edu]
Sent: Thursday, 26 November 2009 11:39 a.m.
To: Dick Jensen
Cc: mivie at montana.edu; Stephen Thorpe; 'TAXACOM'
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Article 16.2 of the ICZN

>Dick Jensen wrote:

> Further, why should following the code be voluntary?

Whether or not it "should" be is not the  issue, it is voluntary because
there is no choice. Compliance is voluntary for the very simple reason
that there is no enforcement mechanism, nor can there be one. Imagine ICZN
Police breaking in with a warrant.  Unthinkable.  If someone in the USA
publishes a non-compliant name, and someone else in Japan chooses to use
said name, a colleague in Poland can't take them to court and have the
miscreant fined.  Anything done without the threat of sanction or penalty
is voluntary.  The whole system only works because we AGREE to make it
work.  It is in all our best interests to make sure the Code is something
that is universally agreed to.  This is why the Committees that have
drafted the Codes have tried to avoid legalism as much as possible.  This
is also why we have a mechanism to violate the Code when the community
wants it done (via petition to the Commission).

And, when the community does not agree with the Code, and violates the
Code in large numbers, the Code changes to meet the community, not the
other way around. If we don't explain/teach how and why to do it
correctly, in a way that seems relevant, the user community, who is not
just taxonomists, will just drift away into anarchy.  We can only prevail
by persuasion, not by threats of enforcement.

Mike Ivie


Mike Ivie