G. Y. Lyubarsky
Zoological Museum of Moscow Lomonosov State University ul. Bolshaya Nikitskaya, 6, 125009 Moscow, Russia
The sequence of classic paradigms in taxonomy that partly replaced each other and partly co-exists is given as follows: the theory of «organ and organism similarity» - the naturalistic theory, the descriptive theory, and the phylogenetic theory. The naturalistic classics accepted the notion of «the plan of creation». The rejection of appealing to this plan brought forth certain problems in the formulation of the purpose of taxonomy; these problems were differently solved by the descriptive and the phylogenetic classic traditions. The difficulties of the current paradigms arising from the loss of a «strong purpose» - a problem to be solved by taxonomists that is to be clear and interesting to a wide range of non-professionals. The paradox of formalization led to the losing of content of the methods due to their formalization. To attract attention to taxonomy, a new «image of the results» of its work that would be interesting to the non-professionals is necessary.
