Classifications: International WRB and U.S. Soil Taxonomy - Major Soil Groups of the World - page 145

CONCLUSION
In the above chapter we have presented two 'objective' systems for
classifying soils: WRB and Soil Taxonomy. Objectivity is a major plus
point but it leads to giving excessive prominence to study of the profile
that has become 'deified' (Gaucher 1977). Even before pedologists,
designers of the classifications of living things (plants, animals and
mankind) passed through the same problem of objectively characterizing
the individuals to be classified: they counted the number of stamens,
measured the height of dogs, calculated the skull volumes, etc. But
all of this is now abandoned in favour of the study of gene dynamics
in populations. Pedology could follow the same path. The highly
morphological classifications will without doubt be neglected when
knowledge of the evolutionary process is sufficiently advanced. The
genetic classification could then resurface…
But in any case, the points of international accord are more and more
evident concerning the great soil groups that must be distinguished at
world scale and it is not very much necessary to stop with terminologies
that mask this convergence behind their specific languages.
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