The Influence of Classification on World View and Epistemology

Abstract

Worldview as a kind of man's look towards the world of reality has a severe influence on his classification of knowledge. In other words one may see in classification of knowledge the unity as well as plurality. This article deals with the fact that how classification takes place in man's epistemological process. Perception and epistemology are mentioned as the key points here. Philosophers are usually classifiers and their point of views forms the way they classify things and concepts. Relationship and how one looks at it in shaping the classification scheme is critical. The classifications which have been introduced up to now have had several models. They represent the kind of looking at, or point of view of their founders to the world. Aristotle, as a philosopher as well as an encyclopedist, is one of the great founders of knowledge classification. Afterwards the Islamic scholars followed him while some few rejected his model and made some new ones. If we divide all classifications according to their roots we may define them as human based classification, theology based classification, knowledge based classification, materialistic based classification such as Britannica's classification, and fact based classification. Tow broad approaches have been defined in this article: static and dynamic. The static approach refers to the traditional approaches and the dynamic one refers to the eight way of looking toward objects in order to realize them. The structure of classification has had its influence on epistemology, too. If the first cut on knowledge tree is fully defined, the branches would usually be consistent with it.

Manifestation of worldview in a metaphor

“…This holistic view would be influenced by the root worldview(s) of the philosophies) chosen to form this new view. Also if philosophy is seen as a system of classification of reality, the extension of this new view would also be influenced by root worldviews (Fadaie, 2008). There is a growing need towards our orientation at a global level.…”

Information Seeking, Information Retrieval: Philosophical Points

“…These entities or processes do exist in the nature, (Vickery, 2008b). Immediately, or you can say at the same time one pictures it and create mental creature (Fadaie, 2008). When these mental creatures based on the creatures in the nature made by human mind or his action increase one has classify or categorize them ontologically as well as mentally and then put a name on them and then put them in one's memory, inside or outside.…”

“…Retrieval is very important and necessary in our life and it is rooted from our very need to know for application. Knowing (Fadaie, 2008) makes us search and find the new things and new processes and put them in right places in order to be used whenever we need. Therefore an information seeking means to search something which exist, or is created by ourselves or others, now or in the past.…”

“…To explain more every thing in the realm of ontology is in-form but when it comes in the realm of epistemology we must have some similar ones and then one should derive the universal from them. Without which the universal could not come into being (Fadaie, 2008). Universals are the result of grouping similar things or processes.…”