About the Taxonomy

Welcome

to the discovery of a
Taxonomy of Human Elements in Endeavour (THEE)

A taxonomy identifies the contents of a particular field, resolving confusion and misunderstanding in two ways: first, by naming and describing objects unambiguously and precisely, and second by indicating their relations.

This Taxonomy orders and classifies the contents of what you might loosely think of as «the mind-at-work»: our «self-in-committed-action» or «the 'what' and 'why' of consciousness» or simply and most accurately: «personal functioning».

The field studied here is psychosocial reality rather than physical reality. It covers everything that can be brought into consciousness in relation to personal, social and organizational life. So the contents of the field are real but not physical. If you are a die-hard materialist, perhaps you can think of the contents as 'seemingly real shared illusions'. These 'illusions' include the law, enterprises, research, debates and similar things that most people would not regard as illusory.

In any case, every element exists by being:

► partly inner experience (i.e. private)
► partly shareable social phenomenon (i.e. public).

THEE is a model akin to powerful software that exists within you—never determining what you say or do, but always channeling your efforts. It can provide powerful tools to aid choices and avoid mishaps if you are ready to become self-aware.

Its strange architecture was discovered by making explicit what is implicit in our activities—bringing into consciousness what is often unconscious—and then ordering those elements in a logical way.

It may seem easiest to think of THEE as a model of «the mind»: a biologically evolved instrument that everyone uses and that, in turn, uses consciousness.
But— «the mind» is an unobservable fiction and unnecessary hypothesis: what actually exists is personal functioning, and every entity in THEE is a form of personal functioning.

If all this seems too strange: some analogies may help, otherwise ...

Go Step by Step

Either:

Get a few basic questions answered, then you can...
Look forward: why the time is right, then you can...
Look back: to cultural origins, and
See the link between consciousness and endeavour.

Or:

Start on a more detailed orientation.

Originally posted: July 2009; Last amended: 7-December-2018