Category
Related: class - genre theory - folksonomy - taxonomy
"I don't believe in categorization," said ChesnuTT. "I do soul music, and any music where people put their soul into it and you can feel it, you can hear it, that's soul music. I look to the songcraft of Motown, The Beatles, Sam Cooke, Elton John and Bernard Taupin. One of my main influences is Nirvana. Kurt Cobain had soul. You can feel it." --Cody ChesnuTT
Definition
A general class of ideas, terms, or things that mark divisions or coordinations within a conceptual scheme. --AHDCategories of being
In metaphysics (in particular, ontology), the different kinds or ways of being are called categories of being or simply categories. According to the Aristotelian tradition, a being is anything that can be said to be in the various senses of this word (see being). Hence, to investigate the categories of being is to determine what the most fundamental senses are in which things can be said to be. A category, more precisely, is any of the broadest classes of things—'thing' here being used to mean anything whatever that can be discussed—that cannot be reduced to any other class. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_of_beingAristotle classified everything into 10 famous categories others have tried the same, Kant uses the word for the preconceived notions we use to organize sense data
Being
In modern English usage, being means conscious entity. (See also I think, therefore I am.) While this clearly includes all animal life and any spirit beings that might exist, there is currently no conclusive scientific evidence as to whether or not plants, minerals or viruses are conscious. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/beingCategorical violation
Philosopher Noel Carroll makes a similar hypothesis about horror movies, talking about what makes something horror as opposed to such a thriller. The crux of it is that horror requires a monster, and a monster requires a "categorical violation" (search on this page) — the living dead, cat people, etc. If something exists comfortably in a natural category, it's not a monster, and not horror, so Psycho is out, as is Slience of the Lambs, etc. But Cujo, which is a dog that's too smart to be a dog, is in. It's an interesting distinction to make, and I have a couple of friends who swear by the definition.posted by blueshammer at 6:24 PM PST on October 24 --http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/21071
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