[Taxacom] Binomial Nomenclature - was: "cataloguing hypotheses & not real things"

[Ashley Nicholas]

Great quote with some truth. But if the choice is between being logical and being illogical -- I think I will choose logic thank you. 

On the matter of confidence -- all knowledge is uncertain (my thanks to the great scientific philosophers that have gone before). If any empirical scientist thinks they have "the truth" then I find that very scary. Empirical scientists do not deal with the truth, we deal with hypotheses. At their best these hypotheses are insightful and predictive, however, nonetheless experience has shown that they are often only a poor approximation of reality. If empirical scientists do not have this in the back of their minds all the time and cannot handle living in an uncertain universe then I find that scary too. 

Interesting debate -- probably with no solution. If this is the case why don't we learn to live in a world of multiple systems, methods and hypotheses. I find it very rewarding. Why does there have to be just one solution. I am not sold on one size fits all. Which many of you seem to be advocating. Unfortunately, this is a flawed approach adopted by many sectors of social endeavour -- not just some scientists. It flies against the notion of open societies including the open society of scientists (once again my thanks to Popper).

With regards,
Ashley


-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Paul van Rijckevorsel
Sent: 04 September 2013 12:15
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Binomial Nomenclature - was: "cataloguing hypotheses & not real things"

From: "Dan Lahr" <dlahr at ib.usp.br>
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2013 9:14 AM

Why keep it when It is illogical?

***
Logic has its place, but applying logic will usually give no better results than the premises one started with. 
Who was it that said "Relying on logic is a great way of going wrong with confidence"?

Paul

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