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CLASSIFICATION (Lat. classis, a class...
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See also:CLASSIFICATION (See also:Lat. classis, a class, probably from the See also:root cal-, cla-, as in Gr. icaMce, clamor) , a logical See also:process, See also:common to all the See also:special sciences and to knowledge in See also:general, consisting in the collection under a common name of a number of See also:objects which are alike in one or more respects. The process consists in observing the objects and abstracting from their various qualities that characteristic which they have in common. This characteristic constitutes the See also:definition of the " class " to which they are regarded as belonging . It is this process by which we arrive first at "See also:species" and then at " genus," i.e. at all scientific generalization. Individual things, regarded as such, constitute a See also:mere aggregate, unconnected with one another, and so far unexplained; scientific knowledge consists in systematic classification. Thus if we observe the heavenly bodies individually we can See also:state merely that they have been observed to have certain motions through the See also:sky, that they are luminous, and the like. If, however, we compare them one with another, we discover that, whereas all partake in the general See also:movement of the heavens, some have a movement of their own. Thus we arrive at a See also:system of classification according to See also:motion, by which fixed stars are differentiated from See also:planets. A further classification according to other criteria gives us stars of the first magnitude and stars of the second magnitude, and so forth. We thus arrive at a systematic understanding expressed in See also:laws by the application of which accurate forecasts of See also:celestial phenomena can be made. Classification in the strict logical sense consists in discovering the casual interrelation of natural objects; it thus differs from what is often called " artificial " classification, which is the preparation, e.g. of See also:statistics for particular purposes, administrative and the like. Of the systems of classification adopted in See also:physical See also:science, only one requires treatment here, namely, the classification of Latin See also:pronunciation.
the sciences as a whole, a problem which has from the See also:time of See also:Aristotle attracted considerable See also:attention. Its See also:object is to delimit the See also:spheres of See also:influence of the See also:positive sciences and show how they are mutually related. Of such attempts three are specially noteworthy, those of See also:Francis See also: In See also:Greece at the See also:dawn of systematic thought the physical sciences were few in number; none the less philosophers were not agreed as to their true relation. The Platonic school adopted a triple classification, physics, See also:ethics and dialectics; Aristotle's system was more complicated, nor do we know precisely how he subdivided his three See also:main classes, theoretical, See also:practical and poetical (i.e. technical, having to do with irotl7Qis, creative). The second class covered ethics and politics, the latter of which was often regarded by Aristotle as including ethics; the third includes the useful and the imitative sciences; the first includes See also:metaphysics and physics. As regards pure logic Aristotle sometimes seems to include it with metaphysics and physics, sometimes to regard it as See also:ancillary to all the sciences.
See also: See further Bentham's Chrestomathia and See also:works quoted under BENTHAM, JEREMY. Carl See also:Wundt criticized most of these systems as taking too little See also:account of the real facts, and preferred a classification based on the standpoint of the various sciences towards their subject-matter. His system may, therefore, be described as conceptional. It distinguishes philosophy, which deals with facts in their widest-See also:CLAUDE, J. universal relations, from the special sciences, which consider facts in the See also:light of a particular relation or set of relations. All these systems have a certain value, and are interesting as throwing light on the views of those who invented them. It will be seen, however, that none can See also:lay claim to unique validity. The fundamenta divisionis, though in themselves more or less logical, are quite arbitrarily chosen, generally as being germane to a preconceived philosophical or scientific theory. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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