Category:Fundamental categories

A fundamental category in a "tree of all knowledge" denotes a top-level place to start in a system of w:categorization, as when browsing w:Wikipedia categories for articles. This is the top level in terms of encyclopedia article function and content. It is intended to contain all and only the few most fundamental ontological categories which can reasonably be expected to contain every possible Wikipedia article under their category trees. These categories are: physical entities (matter), biological entities (life), social entities (society), and intellectual entities (concepts).

An alternative root category, based on a somewhat more detailed initial classification, is Category:Main topic classifications. To begin browsing using Wikipedia's categories, you can also see Wikipedia's portal for Categories.

The top level of Wikipedia's overall category system, containing both articles and other Wikipedia project pages, is Category:Contents.

It is possible to display the entire tree (really a w:directed graph) of child categories of the subcategories (e.g. the grandchild categories of the Fundamental category). To expand the tree, click the plus sign [+] to the left of the subcategories. To shrink the child subcategories, click the minus sign [-].