Introductory Remarks

It is not easy to treat a subject that is not well outlined, and which, by its very nature, cannot be reduced to a single notion. Hierarchies are all around us, but we rarely pay attention to them. Nevertheless, we are usually aware of some "natural" order of things, and this hard-to-grasp law sometimes becomes deified, mystified, put "beyond", or "above", real things rather than in their natural connectedness to each other and mutual interaction.

Why "hierarchy"? Etymologically, the word ascends to "sacred order" in Greek, and it was primarily introduced by Christian scholars to describe the way the God has arranged all the entities. Since medieval theology was essentially static, never admitting any freedom in interpreting the God's prescriptions, the word "hierarchy" has received a strong structural connotation, denoting mainly hierarchical structures, rigid sets of pre-defined levels, with fixed relations between them. This made the levels absolutely separated from each other, with no change possible, and the very existence of such levels remained a mystery.

In the hierarchical approach the idea of hierarchy is far from "sacred order" given us by heaven once and for ever. Of course, one could try to invent a special word for that kind of order that can be reversed at any moment and exists only in a relative way, in a specific situation. Examples of such linguistic exercises can be found in the literature (e.g. "heterarchies" by E. Eliseyev). Much more frequently, the specificity of the idea was attributed to some other categories, which confused "hierarchy" with "structure", or "system", or anything else. That is why I have decided to keep the old word "hierarchy" and thus preserve the fundamental connotation of something with multiple levels joined by relations of domination and control. Comparing the category "hierarchy" with other categories, I'll try to reveal its specific content.

Such a word usage is quite intuitive in considering hierarchical structures and systems. Also it is compatible with the common idea of time as irreversible one-directional order (unlike time coordinate in physics), and the popular conception of ontological development reproducing the basic features of phylogenic development. Common phrases like "to raise to a new level" applied to developing entities carry the same hierarchical load. Order is "sacred" here in the sense of all-penetrating universality of the principles governing the development of the world.

Of course, I do not pretend to inventing anything myself. Any portion of the hierarchical approach can be found in the literature, starting from cuneiform inscriptions of Ancient Mesopotamia to the most recent multimedia books. It is strange and a little embarrassing to observe how many people still do not grasp the simplicity of hierarchical ideas and invent cumbrous and clumsy conceptualizations to explain what obviously follows from the hierarchical approach. Everything is ready for the whole, but the minds are not yet flexible enough to compose it. Let these modest pages be yet another intellectual exercise aimed to adding universality in the human thought.