Infrastructure · Data Structures
SpecializationEdge
A link stating that a child concept is a kind or realization of its parent, forming the route by which problems are located
Definition
Mechanism
A specialization edge records that one concept is a kind or realization of another: the parent names a genus, and the child is set apart within it by a stated differentia, as a sushi bar is a kind of restaurant. These edges are what a concrete problem climbs to locate itself, from its most specific capability up to the root, and the current topology profile requires them to form a rooted, acyclic kind-of Hierarchy. Kinds are open-world: the children under a parent are those found so far, and a sibling search never claims to have found them all. Because the relation belongs to the edge rather than to the node, one concept may be a kind of several parents where the graph allows multi-parent reuse. A part of what makes the parent work is not one of its kinds.
Invariants
- The child is a kind or realization of the parent, with a stated differentia that distinguishes it within the parent's genus.
- In the current topology profile, specialization edges followed upward reach the root without a cycle.
- A parent's specialization children claim no completeness.
Risks
Failure modes
Part filed as kind
a contribution to the parent is linked as one of its kinds, so the classification route runs through something that is not a kind.
Closed-world reading
a parent's recorded kinds are taken as all of them, so a case that fits none is forced into the nearest.
Missing differentia
a child is attached without stating what distinguishes it from its siblings, so nothing shows it is a separate kind.
Relationships
Builds on
References
Vertical rank ordering with Upper/Lower relations, inheritance, and authority
Used by
References
Mind
Finding what a concept is made of: locate it, carve it into the dimensions every case it claims needs, test each, search for what is missing, route real cases through it, say how the parts make the whole, and carve again below
Mind
Before decomposing a concrete problem, locate it by climbing specialization links to the root, then retrace the route
Reference
Data schema
{
"type": "object",
"required": [
"parent",
"child",
"differentia"
],
"properties": {
"parent": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The genus: the more general concept the child is a kind of"
},
"child": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The kind or realization"
},
"differentia": {
"type": "string",
"description": "What sets the child apart from its siblings within the parent's genus"
},
"role": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Optional role the child plays under this parent; it belongs to the edge, so the same child can play different roles under different parents"
}
}
}