taxonomy
1828, from Fr. taxonomie (1813), introduced by Linnæus and coined irregularly from Gk. taxis "arrangement" + -nomia "method," from -nomos "managing," from nemein "manage".
|
1. |
a. the branch of biology concerned with the classification of organisms into groups based on similarities of structure, origin, etc |
|
|
b. the practice of arranging organisms in this way |
|
2. |
the science or practice of classification |
"The terms "splitters" and "lumpers" come from taxonomy, where the classifiers were separated into those who liked to create new taxa because of small differences and those who preferred to coalesce categories because of similarities. Specialists are confined to ever-narrowing domains while generalists survey the immensity of information in an effort, one hopes, to find higher orders of structure. It is clear that in the university and intellectual community ... the splitters are in command and the lumpers are in serious disarray, unable to keep up with the output of printouts that are generated in such a variety of ways.