Images of thought and their relation to classification: The tree and the net

Abstract

This article takes a look at how images have been used through history as metaphors or models to illustrate (philosophical) ways of thinking with a special focus on figures of the tree and the net. It goes on to look at how classificatory thought depends on the epistemological framework in which it originates. Also examined is the Western model of classification and how it has favoured the logic of the tree, whose limitations are becoming increasingly apparent. The image of the net is then used to portray (as a pluriverse) the cognitive space of human knowledge, and a culturally-biased view of classification is upheld. Finally, some arguments are put forward to reformulate this view on the basis of an approach that combines epistemic and conceptual pluralism with a weak realism.