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To: Junior
Indeed. These are the kinds of errors you would expect from cultures of that time -- but not from God.

Taxononmy is classification. It by definition cannot be error because it is subjective. While one could say that our system is much more precise than the ancients, one must never confuse accuracy and precision, especially in situations where, as here, the issue is one of inherent definitions.

320 posted on 09/19/2006 1:09:34 PM PDT by jude24 ("I will oppose the sword if it's not wielded well, because my enemies are men like me.")
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To: jude24
And it would be obvious to God that bats don't belong with birds, regardless if both fly. By those lights, certain fish, mammals and amphibians (and possibly a couple of reptiles) all would be called "birds" by the ancients.

It would also be obvious to God that insects have six legs, not four, and that rabbits do not chew their cud.

Now, why would God indulge these misconstructions and not set those Iron Age goatherders straight? Why is it that God did not seem to know any more than the folks writing about Him?

324 posted on 09/19/2006 1:23:56 PM PDT by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: jude24; srweaver; Junior
Taxononmy is classification. It by definition cannot be error because it is subjective. While one could say that our system is much more precise than the ancients, one must never confuse accuracy and precision, especially in situations where, as here, the issue is one of inherent definitions.

To some extent. The criteria for classification can be arbitrary but, given them, taxonomy is only subjective to the extent that the things being classified fit into more than one category: is Archeopteryx more like a bird or a dinosaur? Is "Lucy" more like a modern ape or a modern person?

In biology, there is one true, non-subjective, classification: the one given by the phylogenetic tree. Cladistic analysis, especially that based on genetic traits, has allowed us to fill in some parts unambiguously: people and chimps have a fairly recent common ancestor, people-chimps-gorillas an older one, people-chimps-gorillas-orangutans an even more ancient one, etc.

A possible way to falsify evolution would be to find things that simply cannot be classified under this scheme.

Does anyone know whether Aristotle classified bats as mammals?

The 4-legged insect has nothing to do with taxonomy.

334 posted on 09/19/2006 1:41:16 PM PDT by Virginia-American (What do you call an honest creationist? An evolutionist.)
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