Categorizing life

Is a spider a bug? Is a tarantula a spider? Is a whale a fish? All of these could reasonably be answered either “yes” or “no” depending on how these categories are understood. Is there a correct way to categorize living things? The taxonomic hierarchy Why categorize at all? Humans, or our ancestors, identified similarities…

Cluster definitions as an explanation for vague concepts

Vague concepts are fuzzy. They lack strict definitions and contain edge cases. One classical example is baldness: we would call a person bald even if they have three hairs on their head, so exactly how many hairs could someone have and still be bald? Another example is a heap of sand: a single grain of…