Rational taxonomy and the natural system as exemplified by segmentation and phyllotaxis

Abstract

Abstract Since Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, the idea of descent with modification came to dominate systematics, and so the study of morphology became subjugated to the reconstruction of phylogenies. Reinstating the organism in the theory of evolution leads to a project in rational taxonomy, which attempts to classify biological forms on the basis of transformations on a given dynamical structure.