Abstract:

Perhaps one of the more fascinating aspects of taxonomy - of classification, that is, seen as a formation rather than as the identification of classes - consists in gradual research by "sifting", known as analysis of the latent structure, with the object of finding out what really lies below the surface of a given phenomenon. Classification, indeed, as we mean it, signifies grouping certain elements together on the basis of a characteristic, of an ensemble of characteristics or attributes particularly suited for grouping them together and, at the same time, distinguishing them from the others.