The Classification Conundrum

Phylum. The word is an extremely interesting one. It rolls off the tongue with such finesse and conjures up the image of people in pristine white lab coats.It is above class and below kingdom in the taxonomic ranks. So to glide over the meaning, its a term used for classification. Biologists maybe enraged by my description here, but that's a risk I am willing to take. The very basic need for classifictaion in Homo sapiens, as can be evidenced by the term homosapiens, is the crux of this article. This compartmentalisation has many advantages-it has helped us better understand the world we live in. But of late, I believe that its dangerous to use this theory when it comes to people. The human mind tends to apply the theory of generalisation in order to "classify" people-it's our natural reaaction to try to understand people better. The result is that we end up painting people either black or white. It's difficult for us to see the grey area. Unlike a certain fields of study, where certain characteristics seen are grouped into one category,the same doesnot apply for humans. Neither does the system of netting out person with the positives and negatives of their personality.The maze of human behaviour and social interactions is a far moreintricate and complex maze. It's layered with emotions and reactions. If I were to break it down, understanding people is a case by case process and we still would not be able to apply the theory of generalisation.