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A Difference of Practical Importance

Kurt A. Hoehne, MD

JAMA. 1980;244(10):1099-1100.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

THERE are two principal approaches with which we try to order in our mind the infinite variety of manifestations of the world around us. Without going into historical and epistemological details,¹ I shall confine discussion to the implications these two approaches have for the study of man in general and the work of the clinician in particular.

Definition

The simplest method of arriving at some kind of logical order is to select or to measure an easily obtainable variable by which we can subdivide a group into welldefined sections or classes. For studying people such a variable could be height, weight, age, color of skin, language, or religion. We will call this method "classification."

The second method does not appear at first to be particularly "systematic" or "scientific" but nonetheless is of considerable heuristic importance. It consists basically of the intuitive identification of a characteristic and meaningful constellation of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Winnebago Mental Health Institute Winnebago, Wis

From the Department of Health and Social Services, Winnebago Mental Health Institute, Winnebago, Wis.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Health and Social Services, Winnebago Mental Health Institute, Winnebago, WI 54985 (Dr Hoehne).

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