Homo sapiens and gorilla gorilla gorilla
We humans are Homo sapiens. It means intelligent, human.
Dogs are Canis lupus familiaris, meaning dog, wolf and family, in that order. In other words, we can be considered domesticated wolves.
The camellia japonica is Camellia japonica, the Japanese camellia.
Also famous, where it is occasionally mentioned, is the scientific name for the western gorilla, Gorilla gorilla, and its subspecies, the western lowland gorilla, Gorilla gorilla gorilla.
And it was Linne, famous for his Linnean taxonomy, who initiated these scientific and scientific names.
Karl Linné, Swedish genius scholar
Karl Linné, also known by his Latin name Carl Linnaeus, was an 18th century Swedish botanist. He was also a physician and zoologist.
His classification system formed the basis for the classification of living organisms and is still in use today. He was born in Rösseld, Sweden, in 1707 and showed an early interest in plants and nature. He studied medicine at Lund University and later botany at Uppsala University.
Linné made several expeditions, especially in Sweden, to survey and record the flora and fauna of Sweden.
His most famous work, Systema Naturae, published in 1735, presents a hierarchical classification system for animals, plants and minerals. This work went through editions and expansions and became the cornerstone of biological taxonomy. He was the first to use Latin names for genera and species, contributing to the standardisation of scientific names in Europe across different languages and regions.
The Latin names for plants and animals thus standardised have been in use for a long time from the time of his invention to the present day and are widespread throughout the world. They now enable scientific communication on biodiversity not only in Europe and the USA, but also across language barriers.
In addition to his contributions to taxonomy, Rinne was also a pioneering ecologist.
He introduced the concept of an ‘economy of nature’ and laid the foundations for later ecological theory. He also had a major influence on economic botany, the study of plants that are useful in medicine, agriculture and industry. Linnaeus was one of the most highly regarded scientists of his time, interacting with other leading scientists and receiving numerous awards and honours, including a Swedish knighthood.
Criticisms of Linnaeus
In terms of criticism, his taxonomy, particularly with regard to humans, has been criticised by some as being Eurocentric and perpetuating racial stereotypes. His classification of humans into different races with different moral and intellectual characteristics is said to have been later used to justify social hierarchies.
His collecting methods were also criticised as not necessarily respectful of indigenous knowledge and customs, and as contributing to the colonialist project of classifying and gaining ownership of the natural resources of colonised lands.
Linne’s influence
His classification system provided a structured way of thinking about species relationships and contributed to the development of evolutionary theory. For example, Charles Darwin, a leading evolutionary theorist alongside Alfred Wallace, was deeply influenced by Linnaean taxonomy, which is said to have provided the background for his theory of natural selection.
He also had a major influence on the field of medicine. As a physician, he was also interested in the medicinal properties of plants, and his research laid the foundations for ‘herbal medicine’ in Europe, the study of plants and plant-derived substances in the search for new drugs. His Materia Medica is the leading text in this field, listing the properties of hundreds of medicinal plants.
Furthermore, he was a pioneer in the concept of nature conservation. He was one of the first to suggest that species could become extinct, which was a revolutionary idea at the time. He can be said to have laid the foundations for the modern conservation movement and the concept of endangered species.
In terms of education, Linné was a dedicated teacher and nurtured many students. Some of them became eminent scientists themselves. His students, often referred to as ‘apostles’, travelled the world collecting specimens and further consolidating Linnae’s system of classification.
In Sweden, Linnaeus is celebrated by various monuments and museums, and even a university named after him. His birthplace has been turned into a museum and the Linnean Gardens in Uppsala, Sweden’s oldest botanical garden, tell the story of his achievements.
Linne passed away on 10 January 1778, but his legacy continues to influence the fields of botany, zoology and taxonomy. His collection is also preserved at the Linnean Society in London.
What about pre-Linne nomenclature?
So what was nomenclature like in the pre-Linne period?
Aside from the general public, before Linnaeus introduced a systematic approach, animal naming and classification was inconsistent and indeed confusing amongst scholars.
In pre-Linnean times, animals (and plants) were generally named according to local languages, folklore and descriptive expressions that varied widely from region to region. This means that the knowledge of names held by the general public and scientists is almost identical.
These names often described physical features, habitats or uses. They were not generally inconvenient and advantages existed. However, because they did not have a standardised form, there could be many names for one species, or conversely, one name could refer to several different species.
Latin and Greek terms were also frequently used in scholarly works, but the terms were long descriptive phrases rather than concise names. For example, some species were sometimes referred to by whole sentences describing their most salient features, but you can see that this is clearly not practical for rapid identification or comparison.
Why Linnaeus’ classification has spread so far
As mentioned earlier, his nomenclature is known as the binomial nomenclature, where each species is given a two-part Latin name consisting of a genus name followed by a specific adjective. This method has three major advantages that have led to its widespread adoption
It provided a consistent and simple naming rule across different languages and regions.
It introduced a multi-level hierarchical classification system (taxonomy) that organises organisms into nested structures such as families, genera and species. This facilitated the study of relationships and similarities between different organisms.
Latin was selected for naming. Latin was widely and long neutral in European academic culture. Besides, it had been used in classification before. Therefore, it was stable across languages and had fewer psychological barriers to acceptance among scholars.
Would you have preferred English or everyday language naming?
With regard to the last point, in hindsight, one might think that English would have been more directly accessible to many people, not only in terms of classification, but also in terms of meaning, rather than the redundant and usually unused Latin. Alternatively, some might wish that they had been in Swedish and translated in other languages.
However, considering the balance of power in international affairs at the time of Linnaean’s 18th century, English and Swedish would have disappeared quietly and inconspicuously in Sweden, with neither France, Spain nor Austria accepting the nomenclature. If the method alone does not unify the languages, it will not spread as consistently, and it is possible that every discovery of an organism will have to be checked against the individual languages.
Considering this, it is significant that a stable classification system has been established within European countries, even if the Latin language is difficult for the general public to understand.
Of course, the plant and animal names of each country, region or, in some cases, community have their own distinctive flavour, flavor and history, and sometimes they may even have a more human touch and human wisdom. Apart from that, however, Linnaeus can only be regarded as one of the major foundations of biology – nomenclature in the scientific classification of organisms.
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