ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses our natural tendency to categorize objects and see them as fitting into larger typological groups. To do so we extract the general from the particular and allow natural hierarchical structures to guide our perception. We explain in the chapter how this process of categorization requires abstract thinking which enables us to form what Rudolph Arnheim and others have termed visual concepts. The chapter further discusses the risks and rewards of the process of categorization itself and how the groupings in the book refer to perception and essence rather than to the exact physical nature of things. The taxonomic structure is described, and we define Frame, Plane, Solid, and Hybrid object types; explaining how they exist within a typological spectrum. The nature of the taxonomy’s sub-structure is then delineated and the taxonomic map, which appears throughout the book is explained in detail.
