ABSTRACT
In the above chapter we have presented two ‘objective’ systems for classifying soils: WRB and Soil Taxonomy. Objectivity is a major plus point but it leads to giving excessive prominence to study of the profile that has become ‘deified’ (Gaucher 1977). Even before pedologists, designers of the classifications of living things (plants, animals and mankind) passed through the same problem of objectively characterizing the individuals to be classified: they counted the number of stamens, measured the height of dogs, calculated the skull volumes, etc. But all of this is now abandoned in favour of the study of gene dynamics in populations. Pedology could follow the same path. The highly morphological classifications will without doubt be neglected when knowledge of the evolutionary process is sufficiently advanced. The genetic classification could then resurface… But in any case, the points of international accord are more and more evident concerning the great soil groups that must be distinguished at world scale and it is not very much necessary to stop with terminologies that mask this convergence behind their specific languages.
