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In short: I am looking for a philosophical take/theory/way of finding abstract-level metadimensions of complex systems (or any "real" system in general at this stage, if that helps).

Details: Complex systems are characterized by large dimensionality. Studying all these dimensions (or finding which dimensions are important) to explain a given outcome is cumbersome. To overcome this, I was thinking about the idea to have higher-level abstract "meta-dimensions". Is there a philosophical theory that can guide as to how can one generate a list of metadimensions - typically, abstract in nature - that encapsulate the myriad dimensions characterizing the complex system? These meta-dimensions would then characterize the system comprehensively.

As an illustration of what I mean, below is an example of meta-dimensions and the encapsulated dimensions in the complex system of human body.

Organ meta-dimension: heart rate, lungs capacity and kidney capacity are the dimensions.

Behavioral meta-dimension: diet, exercise level, sleep hours, and stress levels are the dimensions.

Environmental meta-dimension: Surrounding temperature, humidity, toxins, and water quality are the dimensions.

Psychological meta-dimension: thought patterns, emotional fluctuations, and mental states are the dimensions.

You get the idea.

Two properties of meta-dimensions that I could think of: First, the meta-dimensions must exist at the system level of analysis. Second, the selected meta-dimensions should exhibit (a) theoretical complementarity and (b) collective theoretical coherence so that they non-redundantly and comprehensively characterize the entire system.

Aman Kabra
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    Although we would more often refer to higher-order types or properties and not dimensions, it's true that in category theory they have the phrase "*n*-dimensional categories," and they look for isomorphisms (among other things) between structures. Your question seems rather broad/vague, that might well be unavoidable, but so my suggestion is that the generality possible in category theory would be along the lines of what you're looking for (though c.f. the [debate about natural kinds](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-kinds/) for other pertinent info). – Kristian Berry Jun 29 '23 at 04:38
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    I would characterize your example as the *dimensions* of human health. Why meta? – Rushi Jun 29 '23 at 05:55
  • Complex systems are characterized by many things, high dimensionality being but one. Other even more fundamental qualities include: emergence, hierarchies, self-organizing, self-similarity and self-exciting (Hawkes' process). That some complex systems theorists, e.g., the Santa Fe Institute guys, emphasize it's biological origins with growth following an S-shaped curve is a limiting red herring as socio-economic-tech complex systems don't grow with an S-shape. Ultrametric trees are one approach to finding higher order dimensionalities. – DJohnson Jun 29 '23 at 11:59
  • Thank you, KristianBerry and @DJohnson. Appreciate your inputs. – Aman Kabra Jun 29 '23 at 18:15
  • @Rusi: "Meta" because lower order dimensions can be mapped into "categories" or metadimensions. Metadimension "organ" can have several characterizations (or "dimensions"), such as heart rate, lungs capacity and kidney capacity. – Aman Kabra Jun 29 '23 at 18:17

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