Greetings, (01)
I have been pondering the apparent commitment of many posters to the use
of logic in the development of ontologies and mapping between
ontologies. As I have said before in this forum, I don't doubt the
utility of logic but question whether it should be used to the exclusion
of other views of ontologies or mappings between them. (02)
While a comparatively "recent" source I did find a rather long but
interesting passage in George Boole's "Laws of Thought" on this issue.
In Chapter 22, Constitution of the Intellect, Boole concludes: (03)
> But the very same class of considerations shows with equal force the error
> of those who regard the study of Mathematics, and of their
> applications, as a
> sufficient basis either of knowledge or of discipline. If the
> constitution of the
> material frame is mathematical, it is not merely so. If the mind, in
> its capacity
> of formal reasoning, obeys, whether consciously or unconsciously,
> mathematical
> laws, it claims through its other capacities of sentiment and action,
> through its
> perceptions of beauty and of moral fitness, through its deep springs
> of emotion
> and affection, to hold relation to a different order of things. There
> is, moreover,
> a breadth of intellectual vision, a power of sympathy with truth in
> all its forms
> and manifestations, which is not measured by the force and subtlety of the
> dialectic faculty. Even the revelation of the material universe in its
> boundless
> magnitude, and pervading order, and constancy of law, is not
> necessarily the
> most fully apprehended by him who has traced with minutest accuracy
> the steps
> of the great demonstration. And if we embrace in our survey the
> interests and
> duties of life, how little do any processes of mere ratiocination
> enable us to
> comprehend the weightier questions which they present! As truly,
> therefore, as
> the cultivation of the mathematical or deductive faculty is a part of
> intellectual
> discipline, so truly is it only a part. The prejudice which would
> either banish
> or make supreme any one department of knowledge or faculty of mind,
> betrays
> not only error of judgment, but a defect of that intellectual modesty
> which is
> inseparable from a pure devotion to truth. It assumes the office of
> criticising
> a constitution of things which no human appointment has established,
> or can
> annul. It sets aside the ancient and just conception of truth as one
> though
> manifold. Much of this error, as actually existent among us, seems due to
> the special and isolated character of scientific teaching--which
> character it,
> in its turn, tends to foster. The study of philosophy, notwithstanding
> a few
> marked instances of exception, has failed to keep pace with the
> advance of the
> several departments of knowledge, whose mutual relations it is its
> province to
> determine. It is impossible, however, not to contemplate the
> particular evil in
> question as part of a larger system, and connect it with the too
> prevalent view of
> knowledge as a merely secular thing, and with the undue predominance,
> already
> adverted to, of those motives, legitimate within their proper limits,
> which are
> founded upon a regard to its secular advantages. In the extreme case
> it is not
> difficult to see that the continued operation of such motives,
> uncontrolled by
> any higher principles of action, uncorrected by the personal influence
> of superior
> minds, must tend to lower the standard of thought in reference to the
> objects
> of knowledge, and to render void and ineffectual whatsoever elements
> of a noble
> faith may still survive. And ever in proportion as these conditions
> are realized
> must the same effects follow. Hence, perhaps, it is that we sometimes
> find juster
> conceptions of the unity, the vital connexion, and the subordination
> to a moral
> purpose, of the different parts of Truth, among those who acknowledge
> nothing
> higher than the changing aspect of collective humanity, than among
> those who
> profess an intellectual allegiance to the Father of Lights. But these
> are questions
> which cannot further be pursued here. To some they will appear foreign to
> the professed design of this work. But the consideration of them has
> arisen
> naturally, either out of the speculations which that design involved,
> or in the
> course of reading and reflection which seemed necessary to its
> accomplishment. (04)
Of particular interest is the part that reads: (05)
> The prejudice which would either banish
> or make supreme any one department of knowledge or faculty of mind,
> betrays
> not only error of judgment, but a defect of that intellectual modesty
> which is
> inseparable from a pure devotion to truth. It assumes the office of
> criticising
> a constitution of things which no human appointment has established,
> or can
> annul. It sets aside the ancient and just conception of truth as one
> though
> manifold. (06)
While certainly useful, logic should not be portrayed as the warp and
woof of ontologies or ontological work. (07)
Hope everyone is having a great day! (08)
Patrick (09)
--
Patrick Durusau
Patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx
Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface
Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model
Member, Text Encoding Initiative Board of Directors, 2003-2005 (010)
Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work! (011)
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