El estatus fáctico de la cladística: aportes desde una reconstrucción estructuralista

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.