dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois) (06/13/85)
> [Stanley Friesen] > Actually, I suspect there is another weakness in his paper > on the basis of the abstract and summary(and the source of the > article). I suspect that Brady is a member of the cladistic school > of taxonomy, or something thereto. The emphasis on "operational" > definitions is an indicator of an "ultra-reductionist" approach > to biology, which tries to reduce *all* biological definitions to > *directly* measurable variables. While this is entirely in physics, > where the concept is most widely applied, many doubt its > appropriateness in the field of biology. His treatment of "tautology" > is also characteristic of this approach. Thus one of his basic > premises is an approach to biology which is questionable, and his > arguments, to the extent they depend on these definitions, are invalid > if you reject the "operationalist" biology he espouses. Regardless of your opinion on the appropriateness of strict reductionism to biology, I think you may be right (imagine that!) about where Brady's sympathies lie. A piece of corroborating evidence is that he is already contributing to _Cladistics_, "The International Journal of the Willi Hennig Society". He has an article in the second issue (Spring 1985) called "On the Independence of Systematics" [pp113-126]. Plug: from my brief perusal of this journal (which I only just saw for the first time an hour ago), it looks to be very interesting and exciting. Perhaps even Mike Huybensz would enjoy it, though one suspects that lurking within the depths of its pages is a pattern cladist or two. It seems that _Systematic Zoology_ (far and away my favorite journal) will have a competitor for my affections! -- | Paul DuBois {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois --+-- | |