Taxonomy Red in Tooth and Claw 9

for some result from unique interactions between proper components

of these systems (Sarkar 2005, 179–82). Our main focus will be in the
middle ranges of the spectrum of views from Holmes Rolston to Sarkar.
As we have just noted, we doubt that there is a single natural property
that captures the total diversity of a biological system. But neither do
we think that the gastronomic or medico-herbal biodiversity of a rain-
forest has the same status as an account of its species richness.

1.3 history and taxonomy

Assessing the biodiversity of biological systems—a coral reef, tropical

rainforests considered collectively, the entire biota at some point in
time—depends on recognizing the atoms in that system. This most
often takes the form of an inventory constructed using a classifica-
tion system: a way of recognizing the significant elements in that sys-
tem, and a specification of their important similarities and differences.
Quantification involves counting. But we cannot just count; we must
count something. We must be able to say “Another one of those”; but
to what does “those” refer? In general, the diversity of a system will
depend both on the number of distinct elements in the system and
on their degree of differentiation. Once we know what to count and
how to compare, we can take both factors into account in a conceptu-
alization of biodiversity, and we can ask whether and why diversity, so
conceptualized, matters.
In this section, we discuss the general problem of classification sys-
tems in biology, taking as our stalking horse the most familiar example:
the Linnaean classification system, the system that begins by classify-
ing species into genera, that is, into sets of closely related and similar
species. This system is not just the best-known classification system in
biology; it is also of fundamental importance given the common prac-
tice within conservation biology of using species and species richness
as proxy for biodiversity in general.3

Natural Classification

To understand a system we need to identify the units out of which the

system is built, and whose actions and interactions drive the system.
And we have to identify the crucial differences between those units.
This is true of biological systems, but not only biological systems. Thus
in trying to understand human cultures we need to identify the agents
whose interactions constitute those cultures. Are all social agents in-
dividual human beings? Or do they include certain collective agents