Evolution, Causal Biology, and Classification

Abstract

Abstract Brundin, L. (Section of Entomology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.) Evolution, causal biology, and classification . Zool. Scripta 1 (3–4): 107–120, 1972.–The pros and cons of different approaches to classification are discussed against the background of a critical survey of the leading principles of evolution and the methodological advices furnished by the nature of the evolutionary process for the attainment of an adequate reference system of causal biology. It is shown that such a system has to be a reconstruction of nature's own hierarchy. The reasons for the present disagreement between the Hennig school and the Simpson‐Mayr school are discussed at some length, and it is stressed that the classificatory dilemma of the latter school is an unavoidable consequence of its quantitative approach and hence self‐inflicted.