ABSTRACT
A genus of representation is a general kind, within which there can be more specific kinds, importantly different from one another, yet generically alike. The level of generality intended can be indicated by example. Natural languages, logical calculi, and computer programming languages, as well as numerous more specialized notations, are all interestingly different species; but they are generically alike in being broadly language-like or logical in character. By contrast, pictures, though equally representational, are not linguistic at all, even in this broad sense; rather, they, along with maps, scale models, analog computers, and at least some graphs, charts, and diagrams, are species in another genus of broadly image-like or iconic representations. So the level of generality intended for representational genera is that of logical versus iconic representations, thus broadly construed.
