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Re: [ontolog-forum] Visual Complexity

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:42:55 -0500
Message-id: <45C974EF.9010604@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Chris and Patrick D.,    (01)

I responded to this thread earlier this evening, but I
didn't mention the following point, which may help to
clarify the issues:    (02)

  1. Model theory, as Tarski stated in the title of his
     original paper, is intended to define "The concept
     of truth in formalized languages."    (03)

  2. Tarski later waffled on the subject and talked about
     defining truth in general, but it's best to make a
     sharp distinction between an actual physical situation,
     a model of that situation, and a theory stated in
     some formal model.    (04)

  3. Model theory only relates a statement in some formal
     language to a formal model.  It does not make any
     claims whatever about the applicability of that model
     to any aspect of physical reality.    (05)

  4. The question of how well a particular model represents
     physical reality is *not* a formal issue that can be
     solved by laying down some formal definitions.  It
     involves all the hard work of observing, testing,
     and devising experiments to determine what is real.    (06)

In short, model theory makes no claims about reality.
All the hard work lies in determining how well any
particular model describes reality.  And as Patrick D.
said and I agreed, no model has an exact match to
reality.    (07)

John    (08)

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