Hierarchical Structures

Abstract

This paper compares the two known logical forms of hierarchy, both of which have been used in models of natural phenomena, including the biological. I contrast their general properties, internal formal relations, modes of growth (emergence) in applications to the natural world, criteria for applying them, the complexities that they embody, their dynamical relations in applied models, and their informational relations and semiotic aspects.

Appendix: Further Readings

The following sources emphasize the historically important and logically basic, as well as recent (post 1990) references that seem to me to bring in new departures and interesting applications, which could have implications for the principles. These latter also show some of the recent diversity of approaches, usually made in ignorance of principles or of each other’s efforts. The presence of a post-1990 paper here does not indicate endorsement by me of all of these works.

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