The Phenoutilistic typology I would consider separate from its fundamentals. The idea that we all have experiences and that these experiences have utility seems to me impossible to prove or disprove. At the same time PU typology can be scientifically proven/disproven by, for example, measuring the correlations between reactions to stimuli that Phenoutilism links. But if the typology part is disproven it should not drag the rest of Phenoutilism down.
In Phenoutilism each type is built by choosing two primary sources— X from one group and Y from the other—then ranking the remaining six by their “necessity,” “ability,” and “indirect” links within each group. Concretely, for any type XY the full hierarchy is listed as:
X → =X → –X → _X → Y → =Y → –Y → _Y
where “=X” is the source that X necessitates, “–X” its paired ability, and “_X” the indirect connection (and likewise for Y).
Because there are 4 choices for X and, independently, 4 for Y (subject to opposite‐group/opposite‐kind pairing), this yields 4² = 16 practical types.
Were we to rank all eight sources strictly by utility—without collapsing by group links—we’d face 8! = 40,320 possible orders (or up to 8⁸ = 16,777,216 if ties are allowed), a complexity that quickly outstrips any usable typology. By the way, this is probably how many types there actually are, but the model, as any abstract representation of reality, attempts to simplify what really is.
Full hierarchies for all 16 types:
1 (EO): E → P → M → I → O → C → A → S
2 (PC): P → E → I → M → C → O → S → A
3 (CP): C → O → S → A → P → E → I → M
4 (OE): O → C → A → S → E → P → M → I
5 (CM): C → O → S → A → M → I → E → P
6 (OI): O → C → A → S → I → M → P → E
7 (IO): I → M → P → E → O → C → A → S
8 (MC): M → I → E → P → C → O → S → A
9 (IS): I → M → P → E → S → A → C → O
10 (MA): M → I → E → P → A → S → O → C
11 (AM): A → S → O → C → M → I → E → P
12 (SI): S → A → C → O → I → M → P → E
13 (AP): A → S → O → C → P → E → I → M
14 (SE): S → A → C → O → E → P → M → I
15 (ES): E → P → M → I → S → A → C → O
16 (PA): P → E → I → M → A → C → O → S
