[Taxacom] Order Campanulales (worth maintaining?)

[Christopher Taylor]

On 2011-02-19 15:03, Richard Zander wrote:
> Genera are non-arbitrary because we see them, apprehend them, grok
> then, vasten them; even Aristotle recognized genera, Linneaus
> incorporated them into his very names for species

We can also all see and apprehend the face of Jesus appearing in a taco. One
could even conduct a detailed study of apparitions of the face of Jesus,
recording where and when they happened, who saw them, and modelling when
they were likely to happen again. But your results wouldn't be related to
external reality, but to the human propensity for imposing familiar patterns
on their external world. How is one to define genera in such a way that they
don't also fall into this trap?

    Cheers,

         Christopher Taylor

Christopher Taylor
Dept of Environment and Agriculture
Curtin University
GPO Box U1987
Perth
WA 6845
Australia

http://coo.fieldofscience.com