Hierarchical structures

Stanley N. Salthe

pp. 355-383

in: Axiomathes 22 (3), 2012.

Abstract

This paper compares the two known logical forms of hierarchy, both of which have been used in models of natural phenomena, including the biological. I contrast their general properties, internal formal relations, modes of growth (emergence) in applications to the natural world, criteria for applying them, the complexities that they embody, their dynamical relations in applied models, and their informational relations and semiotic aspects.