The branching of trees is ontogeny reiterating phylogeny. A basic way to graphically portray evolution and phylogenic descent of life is as a _Tree_ of Life. ( ontogeny means the physical biography of an individual plant or animal ). Famous biologist , Haekel once said " ontogeny reiterates phylogeny . " referring to the development of some animals in the womb going through forms like ancestral species; but I think Haekel was shown to be wrong on that by Stephen Jay Gould. Of course , there is also branching in our circulatory system and nervous system. Them human culture is based in kinship or Family _Trees_.
Phylogeny /taxonomy is very fundamental in biology. It also portrays Darwin's lesser known philosophical concept that _ all life is related through common ancestor species_ ; people have heard of natural selection , but fewer have heard of this full implication of descent with modification . The Tree of Life portrays both evolution and phylogeny ( relationships of species through closeness or distance from a common ancestor species); we think of a timeline running top to bottom of the Tree.
In other words , trees almost talk to us, teach us Darwinism through their bodies . Tree body language is an abstract portrayal of natural history .
The original humans "listen ed" to the trees and organized human society phylogenetically , living people basing their relationships to each other based on relationships to common , _dead_ ancestors. "Ontogeny" or biographies of the living generations reiterating "phylogeny" of dead generations of our species.
This is natural, not religious, philosophy of Life, in several senses of Life. I ask my students the famous philo question "What is Life ? " with the suggestion that this is Life Science's answer.
From: Tony Black
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