Homology cladistic

The conclusion from this reasoning is that cladistic application of the principle of parsimony implies an important first principle, namely that for equally weighted characters the probability of homology for each putative novelty should be the same for all characters. Only this justifies counting each change in the same way. The innate existence of this assumption in cladistics, and its methodical consequences, has been ignored in the past by many cladists. 

A rule of logic is that first principles cannot be tested by deductions that themselves rely on the same first principles. An important issue is, therefore, the question of whether the probability that a character is a homology can be estimated using a cladistic analysis, that is, if it is possible to identify homologies a posteriori (Patterson s test of congruence). The answer is complex (Wagele, 2000). 

Homologues and Homology, Phonetics and Cladistics 150 Years of Progress... 

Homologues and Homology, Phenetics and Cladistics ISO Years of Progress 193... 

Brower, A.V.Z. and Schawaroch, V., Three steps of homology assessment, Cladistics, 12,165-171, 1996. 

Kaplan, D.R., The concept of homology and its central role in the elucidation of plant systematic relationships, in Cladistics Perspectives on the Reconstruction of Evolutionary History, Duncan, T. and Stuessy, T.F., Eds., Columbia University Press, New York, 1984, pp. 51-70. 

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