{ "model": { "rank": 4330, "code": "thing-q188619", "model_id": "vr.tr.hierarchy", "name": "hierarchy", "purpose": "Let an agent identify and represent hierarchies, explain their structure and levels, apply them in organisation and classification, and analyse their strengths and limits.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q188619/", "tier": 2, "score": 76, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "hierarchical classification", "classification of sciences", "kyū in karate", "court rank", "formal language hierarchy", "kyū", "dan/kyū rank", "court rank in Korea", "rank of the Ryukyu Kingdom", "dan/kyū in iaido", "dan/kyu rank in Go", "multi-level governance", "order of precedence", "biological organisation", "order of precedence in the European Union", "Albanian order of precedence", "Yeomanry order of precedence", "order of precedence in Italy", "order of precedence in Switzerland", "order of precedence in France", "seniority in family", "Bulgarian order of precedence", "Singapore Order of Precedence", "German order of precedence", "Order of precedence in England and Wales", "Indian order of precedence", "Danish order of precedence", "Finnish order of precedence", "Hong Kong order of precedence", "Order of precedence", "New Zealand order of precedence", "Order of precedence in Northern Ireland", "Order of precedence in Romania", "Order of precedence in Scotland", "Order of precedence in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth", "Polish order of precedence", "Spanish order of precedence", "Sri Lankan order of precedence", "Swedish order of precedence", "orders of precedence in the United Kingdom" ], "aliasCount": 71, "merged": 71, "knownIn": 76, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.hierarchy", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q188619", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188619", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T20:38:30Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q188619", "registryId": "vr.tr.hierarchy", "name": "hierarchy", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q188619/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.hierarchy", "name": "hierarchy", "purpose": "Let an agent identify and represent hierarchies, explain their structure and levels, apply them in organisation and classification, and analyse their strengths and limits.", "definition": "An arrangement of items in which each is ranked above, below or at the same level as others, forming levels or a tree, such as organisational hierarchies, classification hierarchies, court and social ranks, grading systems such as kyu and dan in martial arts, and formal hierarchies in mathematics and computing such as the formal language hierarchy.", "what_it_is_for": "Organising items by rank or containment.", "affordances": [ "represent a hierarchy as a tree or levels", "explain levels and relationships", "apply hierarchies in classification and organisation", "analyse limits and alternatives" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Ranked or nested", "Levels", "Tree-like", "Widely used" ], "appearance": "Not physical; trees, charts and rank lists.", "visual_identification": [ "Ranked levels", "Tree structure", "A network without ranking is not a hierarchy" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "organisational hierarchies", "classification and taxonomic hierarchies", "social and court ranks", "grading hierarchies such as kyu and dan", "formal hierarchies in mathematics and computing" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "structure", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "conceptual system", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is used in", "target": "classification scheme", "why": "organisation" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "aristocrat", "why": "social ranks" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Standards for hierarchical classification such as ISO 25964", "Organisational governance rules" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Forcing non-hierarchical relations into trees", "Rigid hierarchies hindering communication", "Ambiguous levels" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "represent", "name": "Represent", "description": "Modelling a hierarchy.", "rationale": "Levels and trees.", "layers": [ { "id": "structure", "name": "Structure", "description": "Levels and nodes.", "findings": [ { "id": "structure-finding", "name": "Structure", "description": "Structure.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the levels and relationships in this hierarchy, and can it be drawn as a tree?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Are there items with multiple parents?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rank", "name": "Rank", "description": "Ranking items.", "findings": [ { "id": "rank-finding", "name": "Rank", "description": "Ranking.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are items ranked within the hierarchy, and what does a level signify?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "How is a new item placed?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Types of hierarchy.", "rationale": "Examples.", "layers": [ { "id": "social", "name": "Social", "description": "Ranks and organisations.", "findings": [ { "id": "social-finding", "name": "Social", "description": "Social hierarchies.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does this organisational, court or social hierarchy work, according to its rules?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How are ranks such as kyu and dan awarded in martial arts?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "formal", "name": "Formal", "description": "Formal hierarchies.", "findings": [ { "id": "formal-finding", "name": "Formal", "description": "Formal hierarchies.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is the Chomsky hierarchy of formal languages or another formal hierarchy?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "How are hierarchies used in classification of sciences?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "apply", "name": "Apply", "description": "Using hierarchies.", "rationale": "Design.", "layers": [ { "id": "design", "name": "Design", "description": "Designing a hierarchy.", "findings": [ { "id": "design-finding", "name": "Design", "description": "Design.", "questions": [ { "text": "How should a hierarchy be designed for this classification or organisation?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "How deep should it be?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "navigate", "name": "Navigate", "description": "Navigating hierarchies.", "findings": [ { "id": "navigate-finding", "name": "Navigate", "description": "Navigation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can users navigate or search a hierarchical structure effectively?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "When are facets better than trees?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "critique", "name": "Critique", "description": "Limits and alternatives.", "rationale": "Hierarchies have costs.", "layers": [ { "id": "limits", "name": "Limits", "description": "When hierarchies fail.", "findings": [ { "id": "limits-finding", "name": "Limits", "description": "Limits.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the limits of hierarchies in organisations and knowledge, according to research?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which alternatives such as networks or flat structures exist?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can hierarchical thinking be taught with examples?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should organisational hierarchy be a separate entry?", "How should formal hierarchies be linked?", "How should grading systems be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a hierarchy, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent identify and represent hierarchies, explain their structure and levels, apply them in organisation and classification, and analyse their strengths and limits.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: hierarchical classification, classification of sciences, kyū in karate, court rank, formal language hierarchy, kyū, dan/kyū rank, court rank in Korea, rank of the Ryukyu Kingdom, dan/kyū in iaido, dan/kyu rank in Go, multi-level governance.", "71 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 76 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a hierarchy, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "hierarchical classification", "classification of sciences", "kyū in karate", "court rank", "formal language hierarchy", "kyū", "dan/kyū rank", "court rank in Korea", "rank of the Ryukyu Kingdom", "dan/kyū in iaido", "dan/kyu rank in Go", "multi-level governance" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 76 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 71 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one hierarchy from another, and a hierarchy from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a hierarchy sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a hierarchy from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a hierarchy passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a hierarchy between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a hierarchy, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a hierarchy is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What hierarchy is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of hierarchy are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is hierarchy operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of hierarchy and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of hierarchy?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as hierarchy?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a hierarchy came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a hierarchy and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a hierarchy is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a hierarchy, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a hierarchy, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a hierarchy is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }