“Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories: those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost. The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately to defeat him, and the three major classifications are based on the method each object uses to achieve its purpose. As a general rule, any object capable of breaking down at the moment when it is most needed will do so.” MenMomentsUsePurposeThreeLostGoalBreakAchieveObjectsNeededMajorsCapableDown AndMethodDefeatCategoriesBreaking DownClassificationInanimate Objects Author:Russell Baker
“In contrast we let go of existence, meaning, and the sublime as categories to describe the object “God.” Instead these become ways in which we engage with the world. Yet, as we affirm the world in love, we indirectly sense that in letting go of God we have, in fact, found ourselves at the very threshold of God.” WorldWayFactsFoundExistenceObjectsLetting GoCategoriesContrastSublimeThreshold Book:The Idolatry of God: Breaking Our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction Source: The Idolatry of God: Breaking Our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction
“Kitschis one of the major categories of the modern object. Knick-knacks, rustic odds-and-ends, souvenirs, lampshades, and African masks: the kitsch-object is collectively this whole plethora of "trashy," sham or faked objects, this whole museum of junk which proliferates everywhere.... Kitsch is the equivalent to the "cliché" in discourse.” EndsWholeModernObjectsMajorsMaskMuseumsCategoriesOddsDiscourseJunkKnackKitschSouvenirsRusticKnicksOdds And Ends Author:Jean Baudrillard
“. . . the membership relation for sets can often be replaced by the composition operation for functions. This leads to an alternative foundation for Mathematics upon categories -- specifically, on the category of all functions. Now much of Mathematics is dynamic, in that it deals with morphisms of an object into another object of the same kind. Such morphisms (like functions) form categories, and so the approach via categories fits well with the objective of organizing and understanding Mathematics. That, in truth, should be the goal of a proper philosophy of Mathematics.” ShouldWellsKindPhilosophyFormUnderstandingGoalDealsObjectsFitApproachFunctionRelationMathematicsFoundationObjectivesAlternativesOperationsCategoriesCompositionReplacedOften IsMembership Author:Saunders Mac Lane
“To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: (1) things that need to be fixed, and (2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.” NeedsGivingArtTwoMatterPlayUniverseImaginationModernMinutesObjectsSkillsFixedCategoriesEngineersBasketsModern ArtPicnicsCraftsmanshipPicnic Baskets Author:Tom Stoppard
“But all categories of art, idealistic or realistic, surrealistic or constructivist (a new form of idealism) must satisfy a simple test (or they are in no sense works of art): they must persist as objects of contemplation.” ArtFormSimpleObjectsTestsContemplationWorks Of ArtCategoriesRealisticPersistIdealismIdealistic Author:Herbert Read
“Imperialism, or the conquest and colonization of other populations, other peoples, has had as one of its side effects the growth of a discourse of objectivity. That is, when you encounter something new, something strange, something different, you have to find categories for it, you have to come to terms with new objects.” DifferentSidesGrowthTermEffectsObjectsStrangePopulationEncountersSomething NewCategoriesDiscourseImperialismConquestObjectivityColonizationSide Effects Author:W. J. T. Mitchell
“Distinction between species and specimen is very much like the distinction between images and actual pictures, or, you know, objects that have a definite material identity. The classifications, the categories, the stereotypes, and the images are on one side, and the material pictures, statues, texts, and so forth are on the other.” KnowsSidesIdentityObjectsMaterialsSpeciesDistinctionCategoriesDefiniteStereotypeStatuesClassification Author:W. J. T. Mitchell
“Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories: those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost.” FunnyScienceThreeLostWorkBreakObjectsComputerMajorsDown AndCategoriesBreaking DownBreak UpLost FriendshipInanimate Objects Author:Russell Baker