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Re: [ontolog-forum] Re: Semantics

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Duane Nickull <dnickull@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 07:25:48 -0700
Message-id: <427789EC.8080308@xxxxxxxxx>


Chris Menzel wrote:    (01)

>O
>
>Well, if a definition of a concept *does* make use of concepts that are
>axiomatized in terms of concept being defined, then it is just a bad
>definition.  
>
Chris:    (02)

This is what I wanted to explore.  Look at the english dictionary - it uses all 
the words that are defined in the dictionary to define the words in the 
dictionary. A great deal of care is taken to avoid direct inclusion of terms in 
circular references however most of the words defined by the dictionary are 
probably used in definitions of other words.    (03)

Is that really an ontology?  Are there formulas that state the number of levels 
a word must be reasonably not used in a set of definitions until it is used 
again?    (04)

Example:    (05)

1. A Company is a military unit, typically consisting of 100-200 soldiers    (06)

2. A Battalion is an army unit usually consisting of a headquarters and three 
or more companies    (07)

3. A Division is an military unit large enough to sustain combat    (08)

4. A Regiment is a military unit, larger than a company and smaller than a 
division    (09)

In the definition of Regiment #4, we have used words to explain it that were 
just defined themselves #1,3.  #2 is superfluous yet aids in providing 
semantics to some degree (or does it?).    (010)

Sorry to once again be the loose cannon ;-)    (011)

Duane    (012)




***********
Senior Standards Strategist - Adobe Systems, Inc. - http://www.adobe.com
Vice Chair - UN/CEFACT Bureau Plenary - http://www.unece.org/cefact/
Adobe Enterprise Developer Resources  - 
http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/developer/main.html
***********    (013)

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