The Ego Trick (baggini, Julian) / quote 12 of 254
Nested hierarchies
there is another kind of hierarchy: one which is nested. Nested hierarchies can be visualised as concentric circles, with the smallest circle in the centre at the ‘bottom’ of the hierarchy and the largest, outer circle at the ‘top’ of it. To say such a hierarchy is nested is simply to say that the top levels incorporate the lower ones. Higher levels are not therefore independent of lower ones. Take away the lowest level and the highest is left with a donut-like hole at its centre, and it just can’t function.