" But epistemology also played a dominant role in determining several other aspects of life. As with all of Quigley’s concepts, however, “epistemology” must be clearly defined before its role in shaping history can be understood. The operational definition Quigley gives “epistemology” is “cognitive system” that is, the ways in which “the language of a society classifies human experience in order to think or to communicate and the values which a particular society puts upon these categories, determining the most fundamental engines of human motivation.” 17 The generic morphology of a cognitive system consists of those five levels on the continuum of the fifth dimension of abstraction, that is, feelings, emotions, self-awareness, rationality, and spirituality. "

― Carroll Quigley , Carroll Quigley: Life, Lectures and Collected Writings