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Congruence and language
Author(s) -
Ebach Malte C.,
Williams David M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/4135495
Subject(s) - cladogram , synapomorphy , cladistics , congruence (geometry) , comparative biology , taxon , epistemology , evolutionary biology , linguistics , biology , phylogenetics , psychology , ecology , social psychology , philosophy , clade , biochemistry , gene
Knowledge claims in comparative biology are interpretations/explanations (propositions) of facts. These facts help us to discover the interrelationships amongst taxa and areas. Relationships are information disseminated in the form of language. Propositions, in cladistics and cladistic biogeography, are based on congruence. In a cladogram, for instance, congruent apomorphic characterstates form a synapomorphy. Synapomorphies may be treated as topographical units that depict evolutionary relationships (synchrony) or evolutionary events (diachrony). In cladistic biogeographical and systematic theory, synchronic and diachronic statements of relationships conflict in their interpretation of noncongruence. Comparative biology needs a meaningful language, for without it conflict becomes congruence and noninformation becomes knowledge.