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
Publication date: 2014
Language: English

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

JSTOR

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

data.isiscb.org/p/isis/citation/CBB001420119

This citation is part of the Isis database.

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Elisabeth de Cambiaire; (2023)
“From the Known to the Unknown:” Nature’s Diversity, Materia Medica, and Analogy in 18th Century Botany, Through the Work of Tournefort, the Jussieu Brothers, and Linnaeus (/p/isis/citation/CBB791049693/)

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

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

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

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

Article Maxim V. Vinarski; (2022)
Pattern Without Process: Eugen Smirnov and the Earliest Project of Numerical Taxonomy (1923–1938) (/p/isis/citation/CBB294343234/)

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 (/p/isis/citation/CBB001320045/)

Book Michael Köhncke; (2019)
Rattus, Mus und Pantholops – Säugetiere und ihre Namensgeber. Ein Blick in die Geschichte der Zoologie von 1758 bis 1849. Dargestellt an den Autorender Säugetiergattungen in Wort und Bild. 100 biographische Skizzen und 500 Gattungen. (/p/isis/citation/CBB691457684/)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Article Kobelinski, Michel; (2013)
O inventário das curiosidades botânicas da Nouvelle France de Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix (1744) (/p/isis/citation/CBB001420630/)

Book Stephen B. Heard Ph.D; (2020)
Charles Darwin's Barnacle and David Bowie's Spider: How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes, and Even a Few Scoundrels (/p/isis/citation/CBB370274768/)

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