[Taxacom] Biodiversity questions: Classifications

[Fred Schueler]

On 10/3/2013 6:59 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:
> There is NO scientific information to be derived from higher classifications
> as there are NO scientific principles / standards underlying our current
> classifications.
>
> Willi Hennig years ago tried to suggest a standard (age of origin) on which
> to base rank within a classification. BUT he was ignored by all.

* others who have made the suggestion independently have also been 
ignored. If an age is associated with each category, then the use of the 
category for a monophyletic group becomes a falsifiable hypothesis, and 
rescues the notion of category from the stigma of Aristotelian 
arbitrariness.

I wonder, if this isn't to be done in an immediate convulsion, if the 
proposed age of the group could be appended, along with the author's 
name - e.g. class Mammalia (L; early Permian) - until consensus emerges 
on the ages of categories in each higher taxon, perhaps grading into a 
system where age alone is the categorical marker.

fred.
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          Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
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          RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
   on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
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