Scientific Naming Follies

Scientific Naming Follies is one of an ecosystem of systemic social & psychological diseases of the institution of science, and its associated individual temperaments.

Lumpers vs Spltters is the old term for a high-profile struggle that marred earlier stages of Science. Some workers thought variations on a theme of animal or plant species (and other classes of objects of curiosity) should be lumped-together under a common name. Other workers disagreed, feeling that it was better to divide (split) natural groupings into larger numbers of species … as long as some distinction can be discerned … irregardless at times of the fundamental or superficial nature of apparent differences.

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