Wulf:

So, aren't cladists a group of independently thinking people (they all have their own mind, and are thinking their thoughts)? This would actually mean they are close to the right answer, too? If so, the eagles will become a bunch of starlings anyway.

Something like: "People eat sh*t, millions of flies can't be wrong!"



Me:

There are indeed some independent thinkers among the cladists on the question of classification. And indeed some of these independent thinkers tolerated paraphyletic taxa. These cladists, however, are viewed with suspicion by other, more orthodox cladists. That is what distinguishes ideology from science. Scientists can think independently but cladists are bound by their ideology to reject paraphyletic taxa, although the cladistic religion does show some softening of their hard line stance against paraphyletic taxa. You need to go no further than to ask your good friend WW to see what type of independent thinking process he went through to arrive at the conclusion that paraphyletic groups are unacceptable, despite the fact that they are the inevitable result of the process of evolution. Chances are that you won't get an answer, or you will get a dishonest one. WW is merely following Hennig's principle of holophyly, just like a faithful cladist is supposed to do. The cladists are not eagles, they are starlings who follow Hennig because it is fashionable to do so.

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