ABSTRACT
Taxonomy concerns the theory and practice of classification. It is not confined solely to scientific areas, but is a more general issue concerning the ordering of knowledge and the way we interpret the world. DOUGLAS's classic anthropological text is an excellent general consideration of some of the wider issues surrounding classification, and a useful corrective to the narrower concerns of scientific taxonomy as understood in the modernised world. Biological taxonomy is also an inherently historical activity, in that it traces its modern origins back to the 18th century. Taxonomists are thus inevitably bound up in both historical and philosophical issues, and many practising scientists have written worthy studies on the subject.
