TOUWAIDE, ALAIN. OU-History of Science Dept., 601 Elm, Room 622, 73019 Norman, OK. - From Phylo-code vs. Linnaeus, back to Dioscorides vs. Theophrastus. A study in the transformation of systems of plant classification.
The system of natural classification created by Linnaeus (1707-1778),
exposed in the Systema naturae and universally adopted, is currently
being challenged by the so-called Phylo-code. This transformation of
taxonomy deeply modifies not only the system of classification, but
also, if not above all, the concept of classification itself. Such a
radical mutation is not unprecedented, however. Not to speak of
Linnaeus' system, a true revolution happened well before, in
antiquity. In the 1st cent. AD, indeed, Dioscorides renounced to
classify plants according to the four types system created by
Theophrastus (ca. 371-ca 287 BC), but adopted a new order, based on a
first evolutionist concept of nature. On the basis of a full analysis
of ancient treatises in their original language, the paper will
present this radical mutation. To this end, it will first briefly
present Theophrastus' system and then reconstruct the new one adopted
by Dioscorides. It will identify its theoretical fundament, and follow
its diffusion and reception in ancient science, focusing then on its
persistence and adaptations over time, until the dawn of Pre-Modern
Botany.
Key words: Dioscorides, epistemology, history, Linnaeus, phylo-code, plant classification