LESSON 5

DIVISION AND CLASSIFICATION

OBJECTIVES
• To know and exemplify division
• To identify two general types of division
• To distinguish division from classification
• To give examples of classification

INTRODUCTION
You have seen in lesson 4 that a definition deals principally with the meaning or connotation of a term. Division
and classification, however, deal mainly with a term's denotation or referents. To divide means to separate the various parts
of a thing or to resolve a whole into its parts. Hence, division means the breaking up of an individual into its component
parts; or of a general class into its subclasses; or of a class into its individual members; or of a thing into its constituent
qualities. For example, a loaf of bread may be divided among three kids; a tree may be divided into roots, stem, branches,
leaves, flowers, fruits.

Classification is the process through which individuals with some common characteristics are grouped together to
form a class. Certain points of resemblance and difference usually serve as the basis of classification. For example, we can
classify tobacco leaves into class A and class B, and students into bright, average, below average, and dull.

In division you break up a thing or a class into parts; in classification you collect or synthesize or put together
things so as to form a class or group. Thus, we break up a car into its tires, engine, body, etc., while we classify cars into
BMW, Mercedez Benz, Royce Rolls, Mitsubishi, etc. The two processes of division and classification are not essentially
different from each other, though they are not exactly the same either.

TYPES OF DIVISION
When you break up an individual into its component parts, you have a case of physical division. For example, a person's
body can be subdivided into legs, feet, arms, head, torso, etc. When you break up a class into its subclasses, that is,
disassemble a universal concept into its subconcepts or reduce a term to its referents, we have a case of logical division.

Shown below is the famous Tree of Porphyry which is the classical example of logical division:

Substance
Corporeal Incorporeal
Body
Animate Inanimate
Living
Sensible Insensible
Animal
Rational Irrational
Man
Pablo Pedro Juan
(Individuals)

When you analyze an object in its constituent qualities, you have a case of metaphysical division. For instance, you might
want to analyze the essential qualities or elements which constitute the essence or nature of an individual.

EXAMPLE:
Man is a rational, sentient, living, bodily substance.
 THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVISION

Aside from definition, division is another method of making our ideas clear and arriving at a better understanding of their
meaning We use division in chemical analysis, electric charge analysis, eyelotropic analysis, microscopic analysis,
telescopic analysis, etc. We also use this process when we arrange and present our ideas in an orderly manner, viz., from
the more important to the less important. We use it further in organizing letters and reports.

Rules of Division

1. The same basis or foundation of division must be observed throughout the whole process. It must be consistent.
The foundation of division is the reason for making the process. It is an answer to the question According to what?
A violation of this rule leads to the fallacy of cross division. For example, if we divide men into students, professors,
Filipinos, intelligent, and bachelors, we are using more than one basis of division, namely, profession, race,
mentality, and marital status. The result is cross division.
2. It should be adequate and complete. It must be exhaustive. All the parts of the whole that is supposed to be
divided must be enumerated. No part may be omitted, otherwise the process would be faulty and incomplete. The
division of Filipinos into Tagalogs, Ilocanos, Pampangos, Cebuanos, Muslims, Ilonggos, and Bicolanos would be
inadequate because it omits the Igorots, Boholanos, Pangasineses, and others.
3. The division should be lucid and clear. It must be orderly. The parts or members should be reasonably few in
number. All one has to do is to divide a thing into its main classes and then subdivide each main class into its main
subclasses, etc. It would be useless and unnecessary to produce a list of a few hundred flowers or birds or butterflies.

Types of Classification

When we classify things according to natural or essential attributes or structures that they exhibit, we have a case of natural
classification. For instance, animals can be grouped into those that carry their young (vivaparous) and those that lay eggs
(oviparous). Goats can be classified into those with horns and those without horns, as the case may be.

When we classify things purely according to conventional or arbitrary characteristics that they exhibit we have a case of
artificial classification. For example, we may classify women as those wearing bikinis and those wearing long robes; patients
into those using wheelchairs and those using crutches.

Importance of Classification

Classification is a method of unification. It helps the mind to grasp, at a glance, a great variety of properly classified
phenomena. It enables the mind to perceive the hidden relationship of things I enables us to grasp things according to their
natural or conventional structures.

The Golden Rule of Classification

Classify things or entities according to their most common essential attributes. The numerous and important qualities
possessed in common by the individuals or units to be grasped should be the basis of classification.

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. Celestine N. Bittle, The Science of Correct Thinking. Revised ed. (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1950), 75-91.
2. Benito F. Reyes, An Introduction to Logic and the Scientific Method, (Manila: FEU Publications Office, 1947), 75-91.

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