"Science is much less comfortable with the idea that maybe the taxonomy is no more than a matter of human convenience"

I would like to qualify that statement... it is people in general who want simple answers... and get impatience with qualified answers. just look at how pete regards any honest answer that doesn't presume absolute assurance as meaning it is somehow wrong.

science is tool for asking questions and finding answers... it is tool used by people who try to be sufficiently objective and don't always succeed.

and rereading my comment about fundamentalism above, I realize I left out an important point... dogma provides opportunity to gain power and attracts people who desire power and often abuse said power.

the Inquisition is a classic case of abuse of power in the name of dogma. the KKK used/uses religion to perpetuate hatred...