One of the most basic and important tasks of physics is to classify |
the forces of nature. I have already referred informally to “types” of forces such as friction, magnetism, gravitational forces, and so on. Classi cation systems are creations of the human mind, so there is always some degree of arbitrariness in them. For one thing, the level of detail that is appropriate for a classi cation system depends on what you’re trying to nd out. Some linguists, the “lumpers,” like to emphasize the similarities among languages, and a few extremists have even tried to nd signs of similarities between words in lan- guages as di erent as English and Chinese, lumping the world’s lan- guages into only a few large groups. Other linguists, the “splitters,” might be more interested in studying the di erences in pronuncia- tion between English speakers in New York and Connecticut. The splitters call the lumpers sloppy, but the lumpers say that science isn’t worthwhile unless it can nd broad, simple patterns within the seemingly complex universe. |
Scienti c classi cation systems are also usually compromises be- |
g / A scienti c classi cation system. |
tween practicality and naturalness. An example is the question of |