Full Idea
The phylogenetic conception of classification reflects the facts of evolutionary history. Cladism insists that every taxonomic distinction should reflect an evolutionary event of lineage bifurcation.
Gist of Idea
Phylogenetics involves history, and cladism rests species on splits in lineage
Source
John Dupré (The Disorder of Things [1993], 1)
Book Reference
Dupré,John: 'The Disorder of Things' [Harvard 1995], p.32
A Reaction
Devitt attacks cladism nicely. It rules out species change without bifurcation, and it insists on species change even in a line which remains unchanged after a split.