Cladistic Existentialism is our term for the view that cladistics is the only legitimate, objective method for doing paleontology. This view has, unfortunately, become quite common in the world of vertebrate paleontology and, in our opinion, threatens to do profound harm to good science. The National Center for the Study of Cladistic Existentialism has been established to engender an honest and serious (but not solemn – witness the flippant name) discussion of the way cladistics has come to dominate in the world of vertebrate paleontology and the ramifications thereof. This will inevitably involve the dispute over the origin of birds as this is where the verbal fisticuffs over cladograms rage most intensely. But cladistics, not bird evolution, is the focus of this site.

We have begun posting essays on our Point/Counterpoint page. We welcome any responses to these essays. Please respond or submit an essay of your own through our Contact page. The more contributions from the greatest diversity of opinions, the better the site will be.

Our Chat page is not a chat room, as such. It is a forum for give and take or thoughts that can be expressed in a paragraph or so without illustrations. Please check it out and EXPRESS YOURSELF.

If you have no idea what all this refers to but your curiosity is piqued, we have done our best to lay out the issue in normal human-speak on the Background page.

We have a T-shirt with the Fred-the-Dinosaur logo on the front and a subversive thought on the back available through our Propaganda page.

We welcome any constructive input.

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