Folk Taxonomies

The attempt to establish a unified taxonomy for the field of Information Ethics is both unattainable and unwarranted. The categorization of Information Ethics as a defined discipline, an applicable practice, a philosophy and a worldview remains constantly in flux due to, what Luciano Floridi terms, ‘philosophical naturalism’. As such, a broadening understanding of the field will only serve to further collapse categorization. The following paper will outline, using a discourse analysis methodology, how the nature of the field of Information Ethics at a foundational level must necessarily defy classification. The assumptions behind the current classifications of the field will be questioned. Beginning with the history of the inception of the field through Librarianship and Cybernetics and questioning the yet unresolved ontological debates between information philosophers such as Rafael Capurro and Floridi, this paper will explicate how any such attempt to develop an agreed upon taxonomy will and should always remain incomplete.

Uncorrected draft.

Final copy published in: M. Boulton, J. Hawkes and M. Herman (eds.) /The Art, Literature and Material Culture of the Medieval World/ (Dublin: Four Courts, 2015), pp.138-152

http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2015/the-art-literature-and-material-culture-of-the-medieval-world/

A culture's semantic structure reflects and affects local knowledge (the conceptual structure used to interact with the environment). Archaeological analysis of iconography reflecting folk taxonomies and other aspects of local knowledge will consequently provide insight into many different aspects of past cultures. A methodology for modeling folk taxonomies is introduced. Both Linnaean and folk taxonomies are based on gross morphological traits, creating correspondence between them at the generic-species level. However, differences are likely at higher taxonomic levels and will be portrayed by depictions of "anomalous" taxa at odds with Linnaean taxonomy. Using archaeological context, symbolic associations, and analogy, archaeologists can use these anomalies to determine the underlying semantic connections. We apply this model to Casas Grandes effigies and find that owls, rattlesnakes, coral snakes, and shamans are associated with each other under the semantic domain "night" and are central to Medio period cosmology and leadership.

Background: Human beings employ a combination of morphological, sensorial, utilitarian, cultural and ecological
characters when they identify and classify organisms. Ethnotaxonomy has provided a store of information about the characters cultures employ when they identify and classify a vast diversity of taxonomic groups. Nevertheless, some more research is needed to provide a comparison of the characters employed in the description of taxons, and an analysis of the extent to which those descriptors are represented. Stingless bees constitute a diverse group of social insects that have been widely studied from an ethnobiological perspective due to their utilitarian and cultural importance. The objective of this study is to identify the elements local people consider when characterizing stingless bees, and how important these elements are in the study of local classifications. The methodology used involves semi-structured interviews and trips with the informants to rural areas. Locally known ethnospecies are characterized, descriptive traits and salient criteria used in those characterizations are identified, and the frequency of reference of descriptive traits and salient criteria are estimated. Besides, the descriptive traits used for each ethnospecies are compared, and the contribution of the characterizations as a heuristic strategy in the study of folk classification systems is analyzed. The use of 19 biological descriptors (grouped according to 4 salient criteria) and of comparisons among ethnospecies was found. Results suggest the existence of group and specific descriptors. Researchers identified which ethnospecies are considered similar, how less important traits contribute to descriptions, the relation between specific descriptors and ethnospecies, the presence of cognitive prototypes, and the most relevant salient properties from the emic perspective. The estimated importance of attributes descriptors allowed us to identify the spectrum of salient properties relevant from the emic perspective to characterize the stingless bees. In this sense, the analysis proposed here is useful to study folk taxonomy in culturally heterogeneous groups or multicultural regions, where the linguistic elements usually employed cannot be applied.

This paper explores whether the animals represented as zoomorphic figurines in Predynastic burial contexts dating to Naqada IA–IID (ca. 3,800–3,325 BCE) may be evidence for a novel Predynastic folk taxonomy, either relating to food and consumable products, or another phenomenon that has yet to be considered. This follows a long-standing belief that zoomorphic figurines in Predynastic burials are replicas of the real animals in the burial context. The specific purpose of their replication and its benefits for the deceased still require further study, particularly when we encounter animal subjects that are not typically envisioned as ‘food’. Their potential purpose in the burial context is then compared with zooarchaeological evidence for the partial and complete remains of animals in contemporaneous graves to examine whether zoomorphic figurines and faunal remains may be, in some circumstances at least, considered complementary in their funerary significance.

In traditional folk taxonomy, various fish species have been categorised in accordance with the social structures and kinship systems of human benings. According to this World-view, it was natural that the eel (Anguilla anguilla) had an Eel-Mother, who was responsible for reproduction, and that the eel was regarded as a relative to the snakes ad was, therefore, called the Brother of the Snake. In the Faroe Islands, Norway and northern Sweden, this belief legimitsed local aversion to the eel as food. Strange looking fish have been regarded as kings or leaders of certain fish. The tradition of regarding certain species or specimens as the king of other fish is widespread, not only in the northern Europé, but also in other parts of the World. It is also known with regard to reptiles, birds and mammals.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Human beings employ a combination of morphological, sensorial, utilitarian, cultural and ecological characters when they identify and classify organisms. Ethnotaxonomy has provided a store of information about the characters cultures employ when they identify and classify a vast diversity of taxonomic groups. Nevertheless, some more research is needed to provide a comparison of the characters employed in the description of taxons, and an analysis of the extent to which those descriptors are represented. Stingless bees constitute a diverse group of social insects that have been widely studied from an ethnobiological perspective due to their utilitarian and cultural importance. The objective of this study is to identify the elements local people consider when characterizing stingless bees, and how important these elements are in the study of local classifications. METHODS: The methodology used involves semi-structured interviews and trips with the informants to r...

A few species of jellyfish have been distinguished in the folk biology of the Scandinavians. The moon jellyfish in particular, which also appeared in the Baltic Sea, was known under various local names. The lion's mane jellyfish, too, was recognized as a specific taxon among the people living along Sweden's west coast. Jellyfish were a nuisance to fishermen and swimmers, but were also used in folk medicine, and to provide grease for wagon Wheels and fertilizer for the field.