2.2.5. Key Points

Here are some key points to remember:

• Knowledge is information about what we perceive as objects surrounding us.
• We organize knowledge by means of abstractions called concepts.
• Concepts group individual objects into classes by means of shared characteristics or features.
• Knowledge classification systems help to structure knowledge and facilitate the understanding and communication of knowledge as well as access to knowledge. Such systems may differ in complexity, level of detail, perspective and focus according to the particular purpose for which they are designed.
• classification systems remain an indispensable tool in terminology research.
• The acquisition of knowledge is a cumulative, dynamic and mostly unpredictable process. Its constituent elements (beliefs, facts, concepts, terms, and so on) are constantly changing, and their classification systems change also.