Ontological Categorisation and Mereology

Abstract

In Chapter 1, I provided a consideration of some attempts that have been made to understand complex human behaviour in both a quantitative and qualitative sense. In this chapter this understanding is enhanced by drawing upon research within the areas of philosophy, metaphysics, ontology, mereology, neuroscience, psychology and selected others. The pervasive human characteristic or predisposition of making and using categories of objects and events is considered. I review how categories are employed as a means to allow the simplification of the perceptual process, and the way in which animals (both human and non-human) understand their worlds. Facet theory and the mapping sentence are defined as category analysis procedures.