This paper describes the coexistence of two systems for classifying organisms and
species: a dominant genetic system and an older naturalist system. The former
classifies species and traces their evolution on the basis of genetic
characteristics, while the latter employs physiological characteristics.
The coexistence of the classification systems does not lead to a conflict between
them. Rather, the systems seem to co-exist in different configurations, through
which they are complementary, contradictory and inclusive in different
situations-sometimes simultaneously. The systems come into conflict only through the
researchers’ verbal articulations; in their application conflict is hardly
present at all. This paper treats their relationship as the ’central
tension of science’ in reverse. Rather than comprising heterogeneous
communities that need boundary objects to make cooperation and integration possible,
the field of molecular biology seems to be overwhelmingly homogeneous, and in need
of heterogeneity and conflict to add drive and momentum to the work being carried
out. The paper is based on observations of daily life in a molecular microbiology
laboratory at the Technical University of Denmark. It is thus a ’real
time’ and material study of scientific paradigms and discourses.
