A multidimensional knowledge structure

摘要

Expert system has gone through several shifts in view, from search-based to knowledge-based problem solving and from knowledge transfer to knowledge modeling. However, knowledge is still mostly treated informally. There are widely different opinions on its nature. This paper first attempts to characterize knowledge contents within the context of knowledge level and then proposes a knowledge structure. Four characteristics of knowledge, namely particularity, specificity, bipolarity, and orthogonality, are identified. They form the components of a multidimensional knowledge structure that constitutes a static spatial organization of knowledge. These components are related together through multiple levels of details and multiple system views. The proposed structure creates a taxonomy for classifying knowledge. It brings chaos to order by giving meanings to the phenomenon of diverse opinions on knowledge.