RE: rdfs:class and rdfs:resource

Thanks to everyone on attempting to clarify this rdfs:class and
rdfs:resource issue. But, either I'm missing something, or these
explanations are. Specifically, I need to see a careful description of the
classes and *instances* involved.

My take on this was that you had these as schema items, following the OO
hierarchy level on the left hand side:

Class        rdfs:Resource
Subclass     rdfs:Class
Subsubclass  exmpl:ExampleClass

Now, moving from schema classes to instances, one notes that:

instance exmpl:ExampleClass is therefore an instance of an rdfs:class and in
turn, since rdfs:class is a subclass of rdfs:Resource, therefore it is also
an instance of rdfs:Resource, right? In other words, it could in be "cast"
as either the highest level superclass rdfs:Resource or the one-level higher
superclass rdfs:class.

This makes the rdfs:resource class the root class.

The paradox here is that the notion of a class called resource is introduced
before the notion of class! So, really, logically, they have to arise
together. But, one resolution could be that rdfs:Resource is both root class
and an instance of rdfs:class?

OK, so this doesn't help either, does it?

Regards,

James