Classification and Faceted Analysis: Ranganathan, the Classification Research Group, and the Consolidation of a Method in Knowledge Organization

Faceted tradition occupies a foundational role in Knowledge Organization, yet the persistent conflation between faceted analysis and faceted classification has obscured its epistemic scope and methodological depth. This article departs from the hypothesis that distinguishing faceting as a logical-analytical process (faceted analysis) and as a formal representational structure (faceted classification) is essential to prevent its reduction to a merely technical mechanism. Through a historical-conceptual reconstruction of Ranganathan and the Classification Research Group (CRG), we demonstrate that these two instances operate at distinct levels of abstraction and formalization, fulfilling complementary but non-interchangeable roles. Our findings indicate that the enduring power of the faceted approach lies not in the classificatory artifact alone, but in the precise articulation between method and product, which is indispensable for designing semantically expressive, interoperable, and context-adaptive information systems. We conclude that reclaiming faceting as an epistemological paradigm rather than a technical resource is key to repositioning it within current debates on ontologies, folksonomies, digital infrastructures, and artificial intelligence, by clarifying the epistemological distinction between analytical method and classificatory product.