Abstract

The present work analyzes the controversy within biological systematics regarding the status of cladistics. The use of the parsimony method for phylogenetic reconstruction has been defended by appealing to a methodological principle of simplicity, as well as to empirical principles that external to systematics. I propose new kind of approach, which consists in considering it an empirical theory, thus justifying its application by its empirical success. To defend this point, a formal structuralist reconstruction of cladistics will be provided, which will help clarify what its central empirical statements are. At the same time, I show how these principles have been used to test that theory using experimental phylogenies.