Re: Croc classification (was Re: Sarcosuchus and Dumbing things down)

["Demetrios M Vital" <vita0015@umn.edu>]

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Salisbury" <steve_salisbury@bigpond.com>
> To: "Dinolist" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 3:23 AM
> Subject: Re: Croc classification (was Re: Sarcosuchus and Dumbing things
> down)

 > To my mind, taxonomic definitions that rely
> on assumptions of relationship are therefore meaningless (sorry Chris).

 Why?

 > Taxonomies are much easier to defend when they don't involve phylogenetic
> presuppositions.

 As opposed to arbitrary presuppositions?  How does one defend those?  And I
certainly think that the idea that evolutionary relationships exist is a
good presupposition when dealing with organismal relationships.

 -Demetrios Vital