Cladistics Vol. 16, No. 1, March 2000 pp. 143-154 http://www.idealibrary.com/links/doi/10.1006/clad.1999.0129 Evolution Is Not a Necessary Assumption of Cladistics Andrew V. Z. Brower Department of Entomology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331-2907 Although the point has already been emphasized by various authors that the assumption of descent with modification is not required to justify cladistics, recent debate suggests that there is still confusion surrounding the necessary and sufficient background knowledge underlying the method. Three general axioms necessary to justify cladistics-the discoverability of characters, hierarchy, and parsimony-are reviewed. Although the assumption of evolution is sufficient to justify cladistics, it is also sufficient to justify competing approaches like maximum likelihood, which suggests that the philosophical support for the cladistic approach is strengthened by purging reference to descent with modification altogether. E-mail: BROWERA@BCC.ORST.EDU.