Three roles that evolutionary theory has played in cladistics

Sophie Pécaud (1)

1 IHPST - Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques

Since its beginning, cladistics has had a complex relationship with evolutionary theory. This complexity is exemplified by the highly opposed stances toward evolutionary theory found in process cladistics and pattern cladistics. While the debate between process and pattern cladistics is lively and ongoing, it is almost never based on an accurate description of which kind of evolutionary hypotheses are effectively used in cladistics, at which stage of the investigation, and for what purpose. My aim was to provide a typology of the roles that evolutionary theory can play in cladistics, based on an analysis of which roles systematists have had evolutionary theory actually play in cladistics' history. I have described and discussed three possible roles evolutionary theory can play in cladistics: the roles of founding theory, auxiliary theory and background theory.

Mots clés: evolutionary theory; cladistics; phylogenetic systematics; process cladistics; pattern cladistics; Willi Hennig

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Systématique, phylogénie et taxonomie

Sophie Pécaud. Three roles that evolutionary theory has played in cladistics. Systematics and Biodiversity, 2014, 12 (2), pp.127-131. ⟨10.1080/14772000.2014.907831⟩. ⟨halshs-00983913⟩