Types of Inference
There are three types of inferences that can be drawn based on phyolgeny. The above example, concluding that Tyrannosaurus could lay amniotic eggs, is the standard type, and is called a type I inference. A type II inference is made where one of the extant relatives has the trait and the other does not. In the case of the Tyrannosaurus, a type II inference could be to conclude that it had feathers (like a bird). This is less certain, and depends on at what stage feathers evolved. From phylogeny alone, it is equally possible Tyrannosaurus had scutes (like a crocodile). In contrast, concluding that Tyrannosaurus had hair would be a type III inference, and considered unlikely. Type III inferences are only warranted if there is some positive evidence that the extinct creature possessed the trait.
Read more about this topic: Phylogenetic Bracketing
Famous quotes containing the words types of, types and/or inference:
“The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences. We must widen the range of topics and goals, the types of situations we offer and their degree of structure, the kinds and combinations of resources and materials, and the possible interactions with things, peers, and adults.”
—Loris Malaguzzi (1920–1994)
“The bourgeoisie loves so-called “positive” types and novels with happy endings since they lull one into thinking that it is fine to simultaneously acquire capital and maintain one’s innocence, to be a beast and still be happy.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“I have heard that whoever loves is in no condition old. I have heard that whenever the name of man is spoken, the doctrine of immortality is announced; it cleaves to his constitution. The mode of it baffles our wit, and no whisper comes to us from the other side. But the inference from the working of intellect, hiving knowledge, hiving skill,—at the end of life just ready to be born,—affirms the inspirations of affection and of the moral sentiment.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)