[A dependent hierarchy--the relationship between qualitative and quantitative data from Anthony Wilden's "The Rules...

This lecture is about the relationship between qualitative and quantitative data. The purpose is to show that quality and quantity are not opposites, the latter depends on the first. They are not of the same level of communication or reality. Quantity is a kind of quality, but quality is not a kind of quantity. To understand this dependent hierarchy it is necessary to withdraw the notion of context. Nature and culture also forms a dependent hierarchy, where complexity and diversity increase qualitatively from nature to culture. Context is most complex in culture, and for that reason it is often difficult to interpret the meaning of a statement. In life and society, meaning is a function of context.