The Categories

Lots of things that are put into order by people wind up looking very arbitrary, rather than universal or logical. The sections in newspapers, for example, are the opposite of universal. And even planned organizational structures, like the Dewey decimal system, are weirdly arbitrary and dated. But they work, too. So: can I do better? (Probably not.) Or: what would my own arbitrary set of categories be? This of course depends on the goal, the starting point, the angle, the biases. The goal is to create a structure of blanks that can be filled in with writing that builds towards wisdom, which immediately sounds doomed. But: what kind of categorical structure would have items in it like "kindness" and "balance"? Instead of those things being complex ideas could they be just objects instead, part of what things are built from?

Plan A

• MaterialWorld
• SpookWorld