Re: Philosophies for Character Ordering

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> When you say that a certain number of
> caudal veterbrae are more primitive than another,
> you are making an unproven statement about evolution.

Ordering only means to arrange the states of a character in a line. It does
not make any assumptions about which end of the line is the plesiomorphy.
This is for the outgroup to decide. If the outgroup has a long tail, the
ordered character will be equivalent to the assumption that the tail
gradually got shorter; if the outgroup has a short tail, the ordered
character will be equivalent to the assumption gradually got longer.
(Ignoring the possibility of reversals.)

It's exactly the same as with binary characters.