Here are some options for core topic trees, organized into short (2-4 topics) and longer outlines (6-10 topics) trees. First, a way to work with these:
Process points edit
- List various options
- Choose several from the following (by some sort of selection process) to polish
- Balance simplicity with using phrases to describe basic categories
- Use footnotes to supplement descriptions.
- Instantiate the trees at some point -- filling in with topics
Evaluation edit
Preferences (at this round of work): On the Version 1.0 Core topics page, Martin, Gflores, and myself have expressed approval of Option 2B below. Gflores also likes Middle option 1, as do I.
In general, I prefer something like the longer or middle versions (Option 1 particularly) to the shorter versions below for editing/production uses (and possible public presentation). (However, I do believe that simple alternate top level structures and factors can be noted in footnotes.) Option 2B below is a favorite of mine for a longer list of top level categories. Option 2D is growing on me, but is probably too long. The shorter versions below often either leave some key qualities out or are some sort of combined shorthand for the longer structures. This is because we are working with multiple types of life experience and knowledge that can not be captured in a few categories. Vir 16:26, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
(Summary of discussion points needed here. See end of this page for some rough discussion notes.)
Top level: 2-4 categories edit
Variants of first levels of topic trees:
- Maurreen's Option (for top level):
- Geography
- Cultural topics (Culture)
- Technical topics (Science)
Maurreen's tree has one outline: basic tree.
The french categories can be combined into and edited into these (adding history):
- Option 0A: french categories combined:
- Culture & Society
- Philosophy & Religion
- Geography & History
- Science & Technology
Preference: Alternate 0A above is my current favorite for shorter list of top level categories. Vir 16:26, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
(The above can be conceived wholistic looks at time and space -- including both social history and natural history and natural geography and human geography.
Thinking last night I remembered a knowledge typology by Max Weber. He differentiates the sciences as histories as the kinds of knowledge:
- Option 0B: Max Weber's categories of types of knoweldge
- Natural history
- Social history
- Natural science
- Social science
[The above can be part of knowledge tree at a more detailed level. We want to include life in society and philosophy etc. at top level.]
- Option 1: mixed practical & disciplinary domains
- geography
- history
- society & culture (which includes culture and social systems) -- if one or other term, I would suggest society as it is just a bit more inclusive than culture. but, two terms may be better for this and next cateogry.
- science & technology
- Option 2: headings with practical-theoretical mixed categories subtitles (this is close to Maureen's outline above - more description brings things together)
- the universal atlas: maps of the earth and the universe, natural and social
- society: socio-cultural life and studies
- sciences: techno-scientific practices and sciences
- Option 3: abstract categories
- nature: time and space (that is, history and geography as subtopics, and not just social history) as subcategory & nature (contents of natural sciences) as subcategory
- social (or inter-subjective) knowledge (social system/structures and culture as main subtopics)
- objective knowledge (science and tech as subtopics)
- Option 4A: very abstract alternate
- objective world
- subjective world
- Option 4B: abstract, adding inter-subjective world to 4A, very similar to 3 above
- Nature: objective world (and inter-objective world--ecology, natural systems, etc.)
- Society: inter-subjective world
- Mind: subjective world
- Option 4C: very abstract, sub-divided (4A topics subdivided into micro-macro topics)
- Nature, large scale physical and organic world
- Organismic-behavioral world
- Socio-cultural world
- Humans
Note: An original single category could be Cosmos or Universe.
Top level: 5-7 categories edit
Some middle range sets of top level categories are:
- Middle Option 1:
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Culture & Society
- Philosophy & Religion
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
- Technology & Applied Sciences
- Middle Option 2:
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Culture & Society
- Philosophy & Religion
- Geography & History
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
- Technology & Applied Sciences
- Middle Option 3:
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Culture & Society
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
- Technology & Applied Sciences
Top level: 8 or more categories edit
(at top or near top level)
Encyclopaedia top categories edit
Various lists of top level encyclopedia categories are here: Subject Categories
French Wikipedia top categories edit
Here are main page French Wikipedia category headings:
A translation of the French main cateogories:
- Arts
- Everyday life & leisure
- Society
- Religions & beliefs
- Atlas of the Earth
- Social sciences & human sciences (Note: in U.S. English, we don't have the category human sciences -- it does not equal the humanities -- Philosophy and history end up here for French but literature and art history are in the arts.)
- Natural sciences & mathematics
- Applied sciences & technology
Martin's tree: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/Core_topics/Tree
Top level of Martin's tree (based on French Wikipedia main page categories):
- Long Option 1:
- Art
- Culture & Society
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Philosophy & Religion
- Geography
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
- Social Sciences
- Technology & Applied Sciences
Note: Martin's outline might need some work to differentiate the "Culture & Society" and "Everyday Life & Leisure" categories. Dropping culture, synonymous often with society (both are universal) is a possiblity, but perhaps it should be retained as some English Wikipedia to level categories go for "Art and Culture," a mistake given the co-extension and synonymity of culture and society (by some defintions of the terms).
Here are several trees that I develped recently. (These are in the direction of inclussiveness but perhaps are less useful for general reference in being abstract at top levels.) The basic cateogories at these pages are included in short options 4 above:
- core topic levels
- core topic levels quad (actually binary at top).
Here are some variants on the French Wikipedia categories.
French main categories: Long Option 2A edit
- Long Option 2A
- Art
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Religion
- Society
- Geography
- Social Sciences & Humanities
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
- Technology & Applied Sciences
French main categories: Long Option 2B edit
- Long Option 2B:
- Art
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Philosophy & Religion
- Society & Culture
- Geography
- History
- Social Sciences & Humanities
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
- Technology & Applied Sciences
French main categories: Long Option 2C edit
- Long Option 2C
- Art
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Philosophy
- Religion
- Society & Culture
- Geography
- History
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Technology & Applied Sciences
- Natural Sciences & Mathematics
French main categories: Long Option 2D edit
- Long Option 2D
- Religion & Spirituality
- Art
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Society & Culture
- Geography
- History
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Technology & Applied Sciences
- Biology & Medicine
- Physical Sciences
- Mathematics
- Philosophy
French main categories: Long Option 2E edit
- Long Option 2E (amplifying comments in parens)
[This is a rough and imperfect draft of 2E; it needs reorganization &/or more subcategories]
- Subjective world: Society & Experience
- Religion & Spirituality (sublime experience/spirit)
- Psychological world (nature of experience, senses, emotions, thoughts)
- Community & Family (family)
- Art (aesthetics)
- Everyday Life & Leisure (social living, leisure)
- Ethics & Service (morality/helping)
- Language (language)
- Politics & Economics (power/wealth)
- Eduction (learning, education & research institutions)
- Geography (spatial organization--social)
- History (events & flow of events--social)
- Society & Culture, miscellaneous (social structure/culture)
- Objective World: Nature & Knowledge
- Geography (spatial organization--natural; such study in general)
- History (events & flow of events--natural; such study in general)
- Humanities & Social Sciences (study of society)
- Psychological Sciences (study of mind/bodymind)
- Technology & Applied Sciences (tech & study of such)
- Biological World & Sciences & Medicine (healing & biological world & scientific worldview(s))
- Physical World & Sciences (principles of physical world & scientific worldview(s))
- Mathematics (math)
- Philosophy (theory in general)
Also helpful to consider are the main categories of the featured article indexes for the German wikipedia:
English Wikipedia main categories edit
List of topic lists - Long 3A edit
The main or top level categories of List of topic lists page of the English Wikipedia are (order rearranged):
- Long Option 3A
- Art and Culture
- Geography
- History
- People
- Social Sciences and Society
- Philosophy and Religion
- Mathematics and abstractions
- Physical sciences and nature
- Technology
Note: I think this list of lists outline is the best existing top level topic outline in the English wikipedia.
Portal Browse - Long 3B edit
The main or top level categories of portal browse page of the English Wikipedia are:
- Long Option 3B
- Art and Culture
- Philosophy and Religion
- History
- Science and Mathematics
- Society and People
- Technology
- Geography
Category Browse - Long 3C edit
The main or top level categories of Category Browse page of the English Wikipedia are (order rearranged):
- Long Option 3C
- Arts and Culture
- History
- Mathematics
- Natural sciences
- Philosophy and Religion
- Social sciences
- Society and People
- Geography
Revised English list of lists - Long 4A edit
The following are a few edits to the top level categories of List of topic lists page of the English Wikipedia. A few of the subheads in the versions above are worded slightly differently: Art instead of "Art and Culture" and Society instead of "Society and people".
- Long Option 4A
- Art
- People
- History
- Philosophy and Religion
- Social Sciences and Society
- Geography
- Physical sciences and Nature
- Mathematics and Abstractions
- Technology
Note: I think this revised list of lists outline is preferrable to the unrevised topic outlines in the English wikipedia above.
Revised English list of lists - Long 4B edit
The following is another edits to the top level categories of List of topic lists page of the English Wikipedia. "the Earth" added to Geography and this category is added: Biology, Medicine and Life.
- Long Option 4B
- Art
- History
- Philosophy and Religion
- Social Sciences and Society
- People
- Biology, Medicine and Life
- Geography and the Earth
- Physical sciences and Nature
- Mathematics and Abstractions
- Technology
English and French Original top categories, combined - 5A edit
This is a combination of the top level categories of the French Wikipedia main page and the List of topic lists page of the English Wikipedia, with deletion of People (as synonomous with and as part of society and hey most other categories (depending on definition). :
- Long Option 5A
- Arts
- Everyday life & leisure
- Geography
- History
- Philosophy & Religion
- Social Sciences & Society
- Mathematics & Abstractions
- Physical Sciences & Nature
- Applied Sciences & technology
Variants based on alternate combinations could be added here.
English and French Revised Combinations - 6A&B edit
This is an editing of the combination in Long 5A above of the top level categories of the French Wikipedia main page and the List of topic lists page of the English Wikipedia. I added "& Humanities" to Arts. I deleted history and philosophy as they are included in the humanties and history is also partly a social science. I replaced geography "the earth sciences and earth" which is more comprehensive.:
- Long Option 6A
- Arts & Humanities
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Religions & Beliefs
- Social Sciences and Society
- Applied Sciences & Technology
- Earth Sciences & the Earth
- Natural Sciences & Nature
- Mathematics & Abstractions
- Note: one word labels that could be used in tables for the above could be:
- Humanities
- Leisure
- Religions
- Society
- Technology
- Earth
- Nature
- Math
- Long Option 6B
- Arts & Humanities
- Religions & Beliefs
- Everyday Life & Leisure
- Social Sciences & Society
- Biological Sciences & Life
- Earth Sciences & the Earth
- Physical Sciences & Nature
- Mathematics & Abstractions
- Applied Sciences & Technology
The above is a combination of the top level categories of the French Wikipedia main page and the List of topic lists page of the English Wikipedia, with deletion of People (as synonomous with and as part of society and hey most other categories (depending on definition).
Discussion (of 2A-E) edit
The lack of alphabetical order in above topics is so that topics flow, in 2A, B & C roughly from most symbolic/expressive to most techno-scientific in quality (and differently in 2D & E (as discussed below). Option "2C" breaks "Philosophy and Religion" into 2 categories. Why? Several reasons. 1) most of the French categories entail wholistic distinct ways to see and/or experience the entire world/universe. (While these disntinct "worldview" domains may be subdivisions of another category, such as Art of Society and Biology of Natural Science (changed to Physical Science in "2D") each of these domain categories entail (are related to) wholistic, encompassing different subjective/qualitative views on the whole universe: Art, Everyday Life, Philosophy, Religion, Social Science (same category as Society & Culture but, in general, a study of that), Geography, History, Science (and Technology is a distinct important way of acting in the world). 2) If overlapping in some ways (as everything in general overlaps), the above (in 2C and 2D) entail distinct views. For example, Philosophy and Religion are distinct in that one is about intellectual ideas and the other about religious/spiritual experiences & beliefs (though theology, a small part of religion, is close to philosophy).
"2D" reorganizes topic flow in moving from most subjective and internal to most objective and abstract (circling back around to internal though philosophy to religion, intending to imply a circle of meanings and views). Option "2D" continues the trend in "2C" by breaking out Math and adding Biology & Medicine. It can also be argued that Math (and statistics) are distinct ways of viewing the world (though usually done so as part of a science when actually viewing the world) as are Biology & Medicine (in that life is a qualitatively distinct emergent quality in the universe from physical science).
"2E" is quite flawed. A more detailed top level structure is needed. Move into more than a dozen cateogories and perhaps one needs subcategories. "2E" started to get so long that I added 2 main categories to subdivide it. "2E" became more about significant features of the world (rather than wholistic views of world as in 2C/2D). This outline seemed to call for there be descriptions/aspects of the world (physical & biological & psychological) as distinct from knowledge cateogories (which include information about disciplines) and at first I tried this in earlier versions of the outline; then I just decided to distinguish between world & science within the biological and physical cateogries, though making psychological a separate category from the knowledge domain so it fitted in the general subjective supercategory. "2E" adds various social categories such as "Kinship", "Ethics & Service", "Language", "Politics & Economics", and "Education" categories. Most but not all are not distinct wholistic orientations to the world, some beingmajor social structures/spheres. With the subdivision perhaps "2E" is not too long for a top level structure. Vir 20:17, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
Labels: A somewhat minor issue -- shorter labels can be used in the Core Topics and other tables. Two concepts are retained in this next list (using 2B categories for the example), where the combination is not explicitly obvious. For example, in top level Enlgish Wikipedia categories, sometimes art and culture are lumped together, though, by some views, culture and society can be viewed as synonymous:
- Art
- Everyday Life
- Society/Culture
- Philosophy & Religion
- Geography
- History
- Human/Soc Sci
- Technology
- Science/Math