Dear List Members,
In his paper "Salthe´12Axiomathes", Stanley N. Salthe described the two kinds of systems hierarchies: The compositional hierarchy ("Is a part of"), and the subsumptive hierarchy ("Is a kind of"). The latter, I think, may also be called classification hierarchy.
Now, in an attempt to categorize the systems hierarchies in a Peircean way, I have the following proposal:
There are three kinds of systems hierarchies:
Firstness: The compositional hierarchy,
Secondness: The power hierarchy,
Thirdness: The subsumptive or classification hierarchy. Let me explain:
To decide, of which category something is, there are two ways: First, look at how many modes something has. Firstness has only one mode, secondness has two, and thirdness has three.
Second way (my theory): Firstness is about the connection between past and present, secondness is between present and future, thirdness is between past and future. Now to apply both of these ways to the systems hierarchies:
1.: Composition has only one mode. There are no two or three ways of something being a part of something else. It is the connection between past and present, as it is composed in the past, and thus looks like it does now, in the present.
2.: Power has two modes: 2.1. is the incapacity of the submitted system to be autonomous, and the way it is constructed, that makes it dependent on the power system. 2.2. is the determination and the force the system in power has over, and applies to the submitted system. Power is the connection between the present and the future, as the determination is now, and has consequences in the future.
3.: Classification has three modes: 3.1. is the traits the classified system has to being classified in a certain way. 3.2. is the means the classifier has to classify. 3.3 is the mediation between the traits and the classifier, who is regarding also the history and so on, in a scientific way, so a proper classification can be done. Classification is the connection between past and future, as the reason for classification lies in the past, eg. the separation of species, and the results of the classification lie in the future, eg. if a female and a male animal copulate with each other, will they get offspring or not.
So far, Best,
Helmut
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