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Folk biological classification systems; ethnobiology; taxonomic systems; plant classification; culture; utilitarian perspective; adaptionist perspective;
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Utilitarian/Adaptationist Explanations Of Folk Bioglogical Classification, Terence E. Hays
Utilitarian/Adaptationist Explanations Of Folk Bioglogical Classification, Terence E. Hays
Terence Hays
Attempts to explain the complexity of folk biological classification systems may benefit from utilitarian or adaptationist arguments, focusing on the utilitarian or adaptive value of the behavioral consequences of folk distinctions among organisms. To adequately assess such perspectives it is necessary to resolve a number of theoretical, methodological empirical problems, which are identified and outlined in this paper as a first step toward the construction of such theories of ethnobiological classification.