DESCRIPTION THROUGH HIERARCHICAL LEVELS
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 865 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
H. PATTEE states: “The scientific description of events would, in fact, get nowhere in nature's maze of complexity unless there were repeated resimplifications which we call hierarchical levels of description” (1972, p.37).
He adds: “In fact every process of classification implies the grouping under a single class of objects which, according to a more detailed classification, fell in more than one class” (Ibid).
While “description” is a mental artifact, it need not be arbitrary, since it is related to levels of action. We describe, for example social interrelations between plants, animals or men, putting into mental brackets the physiological, biochemical or physical levels of action, but this does not mean that we ignore their existence and fundamental importance. Moreover, we more or less clearly perceive organizational analogies between these levels. An outstanding example are the crosslevel hypotheses of J. MILLER in his “Living Systems”.