8.10 Levels And Classifications


"Level" is a complex term (NB: just like "goal"). Basic idea for any notion of "level", though, is order and hierarchy. "Usually, we tend to think that each of those hierarchies illustrates some kind of order that exists in the world. But frequently those orderings come from themind and merely appear to belong to the world." In other words, no single hierarchy is correct because "it depends on what you want to use it for."

Our classifications can resemble level-schemes and hierarchies. But the hierarchies always end up getting tangled and disorderly because there are also exceptions and interactions to each classification scheme. When attempting a new task, we never like to start anew: we try to use what has worked previously. So we search around inside our minds for old ideas to use. Then, when part of any hierarchy seems to work, we drag the rest along with it." This dragging along of the rest of the hierarchy is what can mess up the nice ordering.

(NB: This makes me think of ZWP's tri-level approach, and criticisms of it. Many of the criticisms come from the notion of dragging the perspective around.)


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