'Pluralism' and the aims of phylogenetic research.

Abstract

In science, and particularly in the field of phylogenetic systematics, investigators may choose among different methods to analyze their data. These methods include neighbor-joining (or other genetic distance approaches), maximum-likelihood, and cladistic parsimony, among others. These distinct methods of analysis differ considerably in how they process information from the observed data. However, many published molecular analyses utilize trees generated under more than one of these methods, which we will call a 'pluralistic' approach. Here, we explore the statistical, philosophical and operational aspects of the pluralistic approach. We suggest that the pluralistic approach is misguided from all three perspectives and we propose an alternative, logically consistent, strategy as an aim of phylogenetic research.