Darwin-L Message Log 1:135 (September 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<1:135>From GGALE@VAX1.UMKC.EDU  Wed Sep 15 17:05:37 1993

Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1993 17:01:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: GGALE@VAX1.UMKC.EDU
Subject: Re: Lamarkianism in linguistic change
To: darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu

Folks,
I keep getting confused when people refer to things like "species x
gets simpler" or "species x is becoming more specialized".
Isn't the point of almost all descriptive terms of this sort that they
are *relational* terms, and not simple property terms?? [e.g., more like
"to the left of" or "taller", than like "spherical" or "red"]
"Simpler" or "more specialized" must be estimated with respect to the
moving target presented by the environment, or so I always thought...

George
ggale@vax1.umkc.edu

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