Section for History and Philosophy of Science, Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2020 Sep 29;42(4):43. doi: 10.1007/s40656-020-00340-z.
What is it to make an error in the identification of a named taxonomic group? In this article we argue that the conditions for being in error about the identity of taxonomic groups through their names have a history, and that the possibility of committing such errors is contingent on the regime of institutions and conventions governing taxonomy and nomenclature at any given point in time. More specifically, we claim that taxonomists today can be in error about the identity of taxonomic groups in a way that Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), who is routinely cited as the "founder" of modern taxonomy and nomenclature, simply could not be. Starting from a remarkable recent study into Linnaeus's naming of Elephas maximus that led to the (putative) discovery of a (putative) nomenclatural error by him, we reconsider what it could mean to discover that Linnaeus misidentified a biological taxon in applying his taxon names. Through a further case study in Linnaean botany, we show that his practices of (re)applying names in taxonomic revisions reveal a take on determining "which taxon is which" that is strikingly different from that of contemporary taxonomists. Linnaeus, we argue, adopted a practice-based, hands-on concept of taxa as "nominal spaces" that could continue to represent the same taxon even if all its former members had been reallocated to other taxa.
将一个命名分类群识别错误意味着什么？在本文中，我们认为，通过名称来识别分类群的身份出现错误的条件具有历史背景，并且在任何特定时间点，犯此类错误的可能性都取决于管理分类学和命名法的制度和惯例。更具体地说，我们声称，今天的分类学家可能会错误地识别分类群的身份，而这在卡尔·林奈（Carl Linnaeus，1707-1778 年）身上是不可能的，他通常被称为现代分类学和命名法的“奠基人”。从最近一项关于林奈命名 Elephas maximus 的引人注目的研究出发，该研究导致（据称）发现了他的一个（据称）命名法错误，我们重新考虑发现林奈在应用他的分类群名称时错误识别生物分类群意味着什么。通过进一步研究林奈的植物学，我们表明，他在分类修订中（重新）应用名称的做法揭示了一种确定“哪个分类群是哪个”的观念，与当代分类学家的观念截然不同。我们认为，林奈采用了一种基于实践的、亲身实践的分类群概念，即“名义空间”，即使其所有前成员都被重新分配到其他分类群中，这些“名义空间”也可以继续代表相同的分类群。
