Towards a General Theory of Classifications
By: by Daniel Parrochia, Pierre Neuville
Contributors: Neuville, Pierre; SpringerLink (Online service)
Series: Studies in Universal Logic
Publisher: Springer Basel; Imprint: Birkhäuser
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Basel
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9783034806091
Subjects: Symbolic and mathematical Logic; Algebra; Information storage and retrieval systems; Information organization; Logic; Information retrieval; Game Theory, Economics, Social and Behav. Sciences; Order, Lattices, Ordered Algebraic Structures; Mathematics; Mathematical Logic and Foundations
Description: This book is an essay on the epistemology of classifications. Its main purpose is not to provide an exposition of an actual mathematical theory of classifications, that is, a general theory which would be available to any kind of them: hierarchical or non-hierarchical, ordinary or fuzzy, overlapping or non-overlapping, finite or infinite, and so on, establishing a basis for all possible divisions of the real world. For the moment, such a theory remains nothing but a dream. Instead, the authors essentially put forward a number of key questions. Their aim is rather to reveal the “state of art” of this dynamic field and the philosophy one may eventually adopt to go further. To this end they present some advances made in the course of the last century, discuss a few tricky problems that remain to be solved, and show the avenues open to those who no longer wish to stay on the wrong track. Researchers and professionals interested in the epistemology and philosophy of science, library science, logic and set theory, order theory or cluster analysis will find this book a comprehensive, original and progressive introduction to the main questions in this field.
Table of contents: title: Foreword; title: 1 Philosophical problems; title: 2 Information data structures; title: 3 Empirical Clustering and classic hierarchies; title: 4 Algebra of trees; title: 5 Generalized Classifications; title: 6 Topology of generalized classifications; title: 7 Meta-classification; title: 8 For an axiomatic theory of classifications; title: 9 Alternative theories and higher infinite; title: 10 Postscript; title: Bibliography.  .