Natural Classification A quote on science 7 Jan 2011 “All science is either, A. Science of Discovery; B. Science of Review; or C. Practical Science. By “science of review” is meant the business of those who occupy themselves with arranging the results of discovery… The classification of the sciences belongs to this department”. (C.S. Peirce, An Outline Classification of the… Continue Reading
Epistemology Homology and analogy 27 Aug 201018 Sep 2017 Last time I noted that phylogenetic classification was based on homologies, which I have elsewhere discussed. Now I want to consider how we might generalise it across all the sciences. And in particular I want to consider the other form of classificatory activity, by analogy, might also generalise. This will… Continue Reading
Biology Some loose ends – Reductionism and Phylocode 26 Aug 201018 Sep 2017 I’ve been asked in the comments to cover two topics, neither of which I want to discuss at length because they are not easy to cover, and because they aren’t the focus of my rather intense monomania right now. They are: Reductionism and Phylocode. Continue Reading
Biology Ranking 24 Aug 2010 A diversion in the natural classification series. In natural classification, we typically do not find that patterns due to the process of historical causation come arrayed neatly in boxes within boxes, and yet one of the most common temptations is for classifiers to set up fixed ranks. The Linnaean scheme… Continue Reading
Epistemology Two kinds of natural classification, and hybrid classifications 11 Aug 2010 It is fairly clear to anyone reading the last century’s discussions about classification that there are, with respect to natural classification, two main approaches. These are roughly: classification based on shared causal properties, and classification based upon shared phenomenal properties. In the debates between the “pheneticists” who used computer-based techniques… Continue Reading
Epistemology Dynamics and classification redux 7 Aug 2010 In my last two posts in this series, I suggested that science is a field of possible moments, with no set trajectory over what I called the “dance floor of science”. Some commentators have objected to this, arguing that there is no real difference between classification and theory building. I… Continue Reading
Epistemology Natural classification and the dynamics of science 6 Aug 201018 Sep 2017 About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not to theorize; and I well remember someone saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel pit and count the pebbles and describe their colours. How odd it is… Continue Reading
History Evolution quote 6 Aug 2010 As all sciences are based upon facts, known, or to be known from experience, so are they, in their early state of developement [sic], matters of pure observation. It is only when we have acquired the power of generalising these facts, when such generalisations agree among themselves and with every… Continue Reading
Epistemology The strange inversion of natural classification 6 Aug 2010 Around the time Charles Darwin headed off on his world tour (Rio! Sydney! Capetown!), taxonomists exercised themselves greatly over what was a “natural classification” in natural history, roughly in biology and geology. The shared view was that, as the system of Linnaeus was artificial, relying as it did solely on… Continue Reading
Biology Names and nomenclature in classification 17 Jul 2010 One of the main focuses in the literature, especially in biology, regarding classification is the problem of nomenclature, of names. Many treat classification as being all about names, an error that is akin to mistaking not the map for the territory, but the names on the map for the territory…. Continue Reading