A Simple Check for Hierarchy

The evidence for hierarchy identified to this point includes:

• Higher Levels are more complex and encompass lower Levels. This is particularly obvious from L1 to L4, but also applies at higher Levels.
• There is the THEE-type disconnect between L1-L4 and L5-L7, that must be defined in the next section as an internal duality.
• Errors at lower Levels generate errors at higher Levels, whereas an error at a higher Level does not cause a problem at lower Levels.
• The oscillating duality causing sharp discontinuities between Levels is highly suggestive.

A further useful check is based on «reasons» for the hierarchy. This involves determining the nature of the transitions from Level to Level as we go down &/or up the hierarchy i.e. each Level must reveal an incompleteness in the form of a «need to do» something or a «need for» something. At the top and bottom these needs must make no sense, so bringing closure. The more natural and self-evident the reasons for moving up and down, the more convincing.

See the example of Purpose

Here is a blank version for Communication: print it out. Play and post conclusions; or complete, scan and email to TOP.

L	Process &  Structure	Function in Sending and Receiving		Transitions Downward	Transitions Upward
7	To be open & Openness	To activate an experiential state that maintains the potential for sending and receiving meaningful messages.		Need to/for:	Higher Level is impossible.
6	To Mean & Meaning	To embed a sense of something in a message: the sender generates and the recipient attributes meaning via contents within a specific context.		Need to/for:	Need to/for:
5	To Name & Term (syn. label)	To use something to make specific reference to an object of experience—outer, inner, virtual or imaginary—for use in a social context; or regard it as so doing.		Need to/for:	Need to/for:
4	To Symbolize & Symbol	To use something to represent and evoke ideas from a different domain of discourse: or regard it as so doing.		Need to/for:	Need to/for:
3	To Signify & Sign (syn. signifier)	To use something to indicate or suggest something else within a single domain of discourse; or regard it as so doing.		Need to/for:	Need to/for:
2	To Signal & Signal	To use a specific stimulus or pattern of stimuli to convey a specific content or message; or regard it as so doing.		Need to/for:	Need to/for:
1	To Stimulate & Stimuli	To use the elemental biological means for sending or receiving any message.		Lower Level is impossible.	Need to/for:

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More Review Options ►

• It seems that communication usually fails.
• Focus on the communicative event and the role of critical factors, like context and the reference group.
• How precision and ambiguity reveal that communication is often made subservient to other demands.
• Discover intense resonance with the Primary Hierarchy of Experience-PH4.
• Focus on words and how they relate to this Framework.
• Give more attention to receptivity.

Originally posted 27-May-2011; Last updated 23-Jul-2011.