Epistemología de la investigación taxonómica: inferencias filogenéticas y su evaluación

A problem in systematics is how to decide which similarities are reliable inferences of genealogical history (homologies) . Und.er a cladistic approach, these inferences are subjected to critical examination that would potentially falsify them with the principle of parsimony. Among equally supported hypotheses, the most parsimonious hypothesis must be preferred if it explains most observations that require to be explained as satisfactorily as any other less parsimonious ex planation. Each inference of homology is questioned in view of congruence with other characters in the most parsimonious phylogenetic hypothesis. In such hypothesis, initial inferences about homology can be changed as inferences about homoplasy. In contrast, in the evolutionary approach, the criteria for the validation of homologies are conventional notions about the evolutionary, reproductive, adaptive, or functional importance of characters. Using these criteria, the validation of inferences is established a priori, therefore remaining immune to any further questioning. If taxonomic groups should be recognized by the common genealogical history of included elements, then inferences that could be tentatively accepted as valid hypothesis of phylogeny are those justified as the most parsimonious.