Examples and Exemplification

Plato's Cave

A «category» is an idea, so you can know it but you cannot observe it in the conventional sense. It is therefore Platonic in nature. You can only observe examples of categories. So, once a THEE framework is accepted, observational certainty is often possible e.g. outsiders can know whether or not a particular form of purpose (like a priority) has been specified in a planning document.

As in that example, a THEE entity is a psychosocial category that has a name assigned. However, psychosocial categories or their names must be used in an external world that is intrinsically messy or impure (scientifically).

Analogy

Physical elements of the periodic table are described with 100% purity, but no lump of an element in the world is ever 100% pure. It is mixed with impurities. Even refining only guarantees (say) 99.999% purity. No-one thinks that the impurity vitiates the existence of the pure element, and the impurity may not matter in practice. The same applies to THEE entities, probably more so.

Any assumed or believed observation of a particular entity-category is best thought of as an «example» or «exemplification» of the entity. So it is an epistemological error to make brute observation of psychosocial phenomena, and expect precision from such studies. They cannot capture the deeper nature of THEE entities: reality is too messy.

Reality is Messy

In the arena of human experience and social phenomena, reality is just too complex for brute empiricism. Any person involved in committed action activates various disparate THEE entities. Some are obvious and others are difficult to perceive.

Recording and analysis of many instances (i.e. examples) can serious mislead because:

• Entities are defined by function which depends on a person’s intentions, responsibilities and freedom.
• Multiple frames of reference exist simultaneously and the same example may reflect THEE entities at several levels and in different domains.
  e.g. identical statements of intent might turn out to be an L3-priority or an L1-task or an L4-principal object or something else, depending entirely on the will (or wishes) of the speaker.
• Any social situation may contain actors not fully engaged and genuinely committed.
• Many people misuse entities &/or names, either deliberately (like advertisers and politicians), or from ignorance and habit, or because precision is unnecessary.

The Taxonomy Precedes Examples

Examples are tricky. Looking at data alone will never reveal the Taxonomy. Conventional scientific observational methods find psychosocial realities far too complicated and open. Shadows are measured as a substitute for the real thing: see graphic above right.

The reverse, however, is quite possible. If the THEE-entity is well-formulated and validated and its properties are well-known, then it is not too difficult to find examples in the world. Sensible research of a conventional sort can then be carried out. Such research has occurred in regard to systems of decision-making and ethical choice.

---

• Processes by which categories emerge within the taxonomic architecture.

Originally posted: August 2009; Last updated 2-Feb-2014.