IsisCB Explore

Article ID: CBB001420119

The Normative Structure of Mathematization in Systematic Biology (2014)

Sterner, Beckett (Author)
Lidgard, Scott (Author)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 46
Pages: 44--54

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

JSTOR

Academia.edu

Mathematics and its relationship to science Methodology of science; scientific method Systematics (biology) Classification in biology Data analysis 20th century Mayr, Ernst

We argue that the mathematization of science should be understood as a normative activity of advocating for a particular methodology with its own criteria for evaluating good research. As a case study, we examine the mathematization of taxonomic classification in systematic biology. We show how mathematization is a normative activity by contrasting its distinctive features in numerical taxonomy in the 1960s with an earlier reform advocated by Ernst Mayr starting in the 1940s. Both Mayr and the numerical taxonomists sought to formalize the work of classification, but Mayr introduced a qualitative formalism based on human judgment for determining the taxonomic rank of populations, while the numerical taxonomists introduced a quantitative formalism based on automated procedures for computing classifications. The key contrast between Mayr and the numerical taxonomists is how they conceptualized the temporal structure of the workflow of classification, specifically where they allowed meta-level discourse about difficulties in producing the classification.

...More

Citation URI

http://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001420119/

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Chapter Massimo Bernardi; Adriana Bellati; Michele Menegon; (2015)
La specie tra evoluzione e conservazione (/isis/citation/CBB690125746/)

Book Kolchinskii, Eduard I.; (2006)
Ernst Mayr i sovremennyi evoliutzionnyi sintez. Serija: Vydajuscthijesja biologi-evoliutzionisty (/isis/citation/CBB000800190/)

Article Gower, John; (2008)
The Biological Stimulus to Multidimensional Data Analysis (/isis/citation/CBB001021404/)

Article Fernández Medina, Rita Daniela; (2012)
Algunas reflexiones sobre la clasificación de los organismos vivos (/isis/citation/CBB001420601/)

Article Strasser, Bruno J.; (2010)
Laboratories, Museums, and the Comparative Perspective: Alan A. Boyden's Quest for Objectivity in Serological Taxonomy, 1924--1962 (/isis/citation/CBB001022657/)

Article Kleinman, Kim; (2013)
Systematics and the Origin of Species from the Viewpoint of a Botanist: Edgar Anderson Prepares the 1941 Jesup Lectures with Ernst Mayr (/isis/citation/CBB001320045/)

Book Michael Köhncke; (2019)
Rattus, Mus und Pantholops. Säugetiere und ihre Namensgeber: Ein Blick in die Geschichte der Zoologie von 1758 – 1849. Dargestellt an den Autoren der ... 100 biografische Skizzen und 500 Gattungen (/isis/citation/CBB691457684/)

Article Miracle, M. Eulàlia Gassó; (2011)
On Whose Authority? Temminck's Debates on Zoological Classification and Nomenclature: 1820--1850 (/isis/citation/CBB001220949/)

Article Futuyma, Douglas J.; (2012)
Robert R. Sokal (1926--2012) (/isis/citation/CBB001320465/)

Article Aleta Quinn; (2017)
Charles Girard: Relationships and Representation in Nineteenth Century Systematics (/isis/citation/CBB386084247/)

Article N. Woodman; (2021)
The green mole, Astromycter prasinatus T. M. Harris, 1825 (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Talpidae): an origin story (/isis/citation/CBB120889227/)

Article Honenberger, Phillip; (2015)
Grene and Hull on Types and Typological Thinking in Biology (/isis/citation/CBB001422118/)

Article Winsor, Mary P.; (2003)
Non-Essentialist Methods in Pre-Darwinian Taxonomy (/isis/citation/CBB000340579/)

Chapter Beckmann, Jenny; (2012)
The Swedish Taxonomy Initiative: Managing the Boundaries of “Sweden” and “Taxonomy” (/isis/citation/CBB001210273/)

Book Veuille, Michel; Drouin, Jean-Marc; Deleporte, Pierre; Silvain, Jean-François; (2008)
Linnaeus: Systématique et biodiversité (/isis/citation/CBB001221073/)

Article Hess, Volker; Mendelsohn, J. Andrew; (2013)
Fallgeschichte, Historia, Klassifikation (/isis/citation/CBB001420951/)

Article Ebach, Malte C.; Williams, David M.; (2007)
An Outline of the Foundations of Systematics and Biogeography (/isis/citation/CBB000831354/)

Book Richards, Richard A.; (2010)
The Species Problem: A Philosophical Analysis (/isis/citation/CBB001023159/)

Article Johnson, Kent; (2011)
Quantitative Realizations of Philosophy of Science: William Whewell and Statistical Methods (/isis/citation/CBB001024183/)

Article Breidbach, Olaf; Ghiselin, Michael T.; (2006)
Baroque Classification: A Missing Chapter in the History of Systematics (/isis/citation/CBB000933663/)