Re: Myth: Lumpers vs. Splitters

In article <47432a63$0$19235$804603d3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Dan Goodman <dsgood@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carlos Ginzburg has said that "Oedipus" and "Cinderella" are basically
the same story. I can, just barely, see that -- if you regard a whole
lot of differences as trivial.

I don't know if Stephen Jay Gould originated the terms "lumpers" and
"splitters," but he's the writer whose work I encountered them in. A
lumper will study nine skeletons of similar unknown prehistoric animals
and assign them to two related species. A splitter will assign them to
seven new species.

Yeah. As Dr. Jane Robinson put it:

And when it comes to paleobotany,
You'll find that fossil plants are just a game:
You take the roots and seeds and shoots of one big tree
And give each one a separate family name.
Then you sweat and you strain over one damn pollen grain ...

which turns out to be a grain of dust.

We had that problem in the linguistics department too.

Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djheydt@xxxxxxxxxxx
.

Relevant Pages

  • Myth: Lumpers vs. Splitters
    ... I don't know if Stephen Jay Gould originated the terms "lumpers" and ... "splitters," but he's the writer whose work I encountered them in. ... and assign them to two related species. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Myth: Lumpers vs. Splitters
    ... however, the term arose in historiography, in a debate ... are divided into the two camps of the splitters and the lumpers. ... first are in favour of making a species out of every petty..variety; ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Myth: Lumpers vs. Splitters
    ... 'lumpers' who make broad classifications on the basis of what they at ... The same distinction applies to 'splitters'. ... The important thing is the basis for each. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Myth: Lumpers vs. Splitters
    ... "splitters," but he's the writer whose work I encountered them in. ... and assign them to two related species. ... When they finally worked out what the whole _Anomalocaris_ ("anomalous ... shrimp") looked like, the "shrimp" turned out to be the front appendages ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Myth: Lumpers vs. Splitters
    ... "splitters," but he's the writer whose work I encountered them in. ... A lumper will study nine skeletons of similar unknown prehistoric ... animals and assign them to two related species. ... however, the term arose in historiography, in a debate ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)