Taxonomies: the threat of radical social constructivism

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of taxonomies as an illustration of a particular scien­tific practice. It is shown that the question of the nature of taxonomies is resolved in ac­cordance with the choice of attitude to the internal and external tasks of science. The pos­sibility of forming taxonomies from the prevailing social perspective is challenged. It is demonstrated that considering taxonomies as a social phenomenon jeopardizes the deve­lopment of effective communication within the scientific community. It is established that, despite the serious public signals to science in times of extraordinary global events related to epidemics, the ways to address them are not conventional and are within the purview of scientists. An attempt is made to understand the prospects of building a unified taxonomic system not only as a technically unified base, but also as a universal empirical basis for a multitude of biological concepts. Using academic platforms as an example, it is demonstrated why, despite the rapid development of artificial intelligence and big data, the instrumental resolution of conceptual problems remains significantly limited.