We discuss the following suites of 'aspects' (though the page is growing):
A useful tabular comparison is available for some major suites, including some not included here. We also have a discussion of advantages of Dooyeweerd's suite.
| Aspect | Corresponding Level | Contents of Level |
|---|---|---|
|
Quantitative
(to do with quantity, amount) | - | - |
|
Spatial
(to do with continuous extension, space) | - | - |
|
Kinematic
(to do with movement; flowing movement) | - | - |
|
Physical
(to do with energy + mass) | Device Level | Semiconductors, electrons, fields, etc. |
|
Biotic
(to do with life functions) | Circuit Level | Electronic and mechanical components in machine, cells and organs in human being, etc. See below. |
|
Sensitive
(to do with sense, feeling, emotion) | Bit Level | Signals, 'bits', aggregation of bits into computer registers and memory cells, etc. |
|
Analytical
(to do with distinguishing ) | Symbol Level | Symbols: 'raw' symbols that are devoid of their representational meaning, but anticipating it. |
|
Formative
(to do with history, culture, technology: shaping and creativity) | Knowledge Level Theme 1 - Goal achievement by rational action | Goals, actions and bodies of knowledge; Principle of Rationality: the actions that agents select to undertake are those that will fulfil their goals, based on the knowledge they possess. Also the forming (maybe transiently) of symbol structures. |
|
Lingual
(to do with symbolic communication) | Knowledge Level Theme 2 - 'Aboutness' | What the symbols and their structuring represent, especially in the agent's environment. Reaching out beyond the boundaries of the agent itself. |
|
Social
(to do with social interaction) | - | Newell later discussed extension to what he called 'social agents' and Jennings (2000) proposed a new level, the social level. Basden has suggested a tacit level that involves social and cultural knowledge. |
|
Economic
(to do with frugal use of resources) | - | - |
|
Aesthetic
(to do with harmony, surprise, fun) | - | - |
|
Juridical
(to do with what is due; 'retribution', rights and responsibilities) | - | - |
|
Ethical
(to do with self-giving love) | - | - |
|
Pistic
(to do with vision, aspiration, commitment, creed, religion) | - | - |
The correspondence between Newell's levels and Dooyeweerd's aspects is not total, of course. But considering that the two thinkers came from totally different cultures and starting points, and had very different motivations, it is surprising how close the correspondence is. For both thinkers, their 'taxonomy' emerged from long consideration of practice and real life. This may be taken as minor evidence that Dooyeweerd's aspects are more than the product of a philosopher or Christian, but reflect the way reality seems to be.
That the correspondence stops at the lingual aspect is explained by the fact that Newell's levels are concerned with knowledge representation, which is a lingual functioning. So it involves only the aspects on which the lingual depends.
However, there are differences that must be discussed. For example, Newell's circuit level is not truly biotic. However, Newell was making the assumption common in AI culture of his time, that the human and the computing machine were essentially the same, and both could support 'intelligence' etc. This is, of course, a major difference. However, there is one major similarity: both the biotic aspect Newell's circuit level describe things in terms of organs or components made out of physical materials (whether by life processes or manufacturing).
The correspondence between Newell's theory and Dooyeweerd's is actually much stronger than can be deduced from a mere taxonomic comparision as we have undertaken here, in that most of the 63 key points of Newell's theory are supported by and amenable to Dooyeweerd's thinking, with the few others being able to be modified and enriched by Dooyeweerd's ideas; this contrasts markedly with the main streams of philosophy. This is to be discussed in a paper that I hope will be published in Artificial Intelligence early in 2002, entitled "The knowledge level - a philosophical enrichment for the next twenty years".
These correspond quite well to the lingual and the aspects that precede it. In particular,
But linguistic pragmatics, which is a "rag-bag of things beyond semantics", is possibly not a single aspect but rather a lingual anticipation of all later aspects.
| Type of Learning | What helps the child | Corresponding aspect |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal/linguistic | Loves words and story telling | Lingual aspect |
| Logical-mathematical | Interested in concepts, numbers and scientific exploration | Mainly analytic aspect but with some quantitative aspect. |
| Visual-spatial | Learns best through pictures and images, enjoys art and mentally visualizes things easily | Mainly spatial aspect with some psycho-sensitive functioning involved in the visualization. |
| Bodily-kinesthetic | Needs to move an touch to learn | The kinematic aspect of moving, with the psycho-sensitive and physical aspects to account for the touching. |
| Musical | Uses rhythm and melody to learn | Aesthetic aspect |
| Interpersonal | Learns best with other people around | Social aspect |
| Intrapersonal | Gets more out of being left alone to learn | Possibly pistic aspect; see below. |
(The allocation of the pistic aspect to intrapersonal learning is partly because such people maybe have a distinct notion of who they are, and also because the paper suggests that computer games in which the learner plays against the computer are a good way for this type of learning.)
If this correlation is valid, then Dooyeweerd's aspects might enrich Gardner's ideas, by suggesting yet other ways of learning from an examination of which aspects are not represented above. For example, we might make the following suggestions:
| Aspect | Its kernel meaning | Type of learning |
|---|---|---|
| Biotic aspect | Life functions, growth | Learning by seeing things grow, tending things. Also 'pocket pets'. |
| Economic aspect | Frugality; skill in using limited resources. | Learning by being careful with resources, and enjoying neatness etc. |
| Juridical aspect | What is due; law. | Learning the 'rightness' of things. Maybe learning rules (note: not rote) could be related to this, but of course such learning is out of fashion. |
| Ethical aspect | Self-giving love | Learning by giving generously. Not sure that this could actually help in learning. |
| Pistic aspect | Faith, vision of who we are, commitment | Religious learning of various kinds. |
From Boulding, K. (1985) The World as a Total System, Sage, Beverley, New York. [AB: also in Lewis 'ISD' p. 45.]
Culnan and Swanson (1996) suggest three foundation disciplines for information systems
Liebenau and Backhouse (1990) identify only two:
Ahituv and Neumann (1990) name:
Zwass (1992) identifies seven contributing disciplines, including:
Hirscheim and Boland (1989) identify two primary fields:
Max Neef (1992) identified ==== to be written.
Newell A (1992) "The knowledge level" Artificial Intelligence v.18(2):87-127.
Compiled by Andrew Basden. You may use this material subject to conditions.
Written on the Amiga with Protext.
Created: 19 September 2001. Last updated: 3 March 2003 .nav, some written for Maslow. 14 March 2004 links corrected. 21 November 2005 .end. unets. 3 February 2006 links; rid counter, boulding more.