Re: [ontolog-forum] to concept or not to concept, is this a question?

["Deborah MacPherson" <debmacp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Paola, 

Removing or substituting repetitive key words necessarily disrupts the flow of your communication goal. 

You can hold "a conceptualization" in your head and hopefully transfer to others, but "conceptualization" could easily be misinterpreted as an
action. Ideally, a shared conceptualization would be made by both the communicator and the communicatee. In this case, concept and conceptualization seem interchangeable. 

Nevertheless, mixing up concept (definitely a noun) with conceptualization (could be a verb) is bound to clutter up the main message, the colander may not even be round with handles any more.  Even with the flexibility of words and the agility of word meanings, writing a paper and selecting optimal words to convey your points is not the same as plugging and playing variables in equations leaving the reader with comparable results in the end. After it is written there can be formalized interpretation of each element therein, but probably not while writing it because you are making something new. 

Maybe you could try finding and replacing every instance of this bothersome term with a pure placeholder like "umbrella" or a nearly similar word like "imagination" to see if the structure of the whole thing is holding together properly or if the problem is this one problematic term. 

Good Luck. 

Debbie MacPherson

On 6/14/07, paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx < paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I am writing up against a deadline and suddenly I realise that one of the foundational artifacts in ontology is being questioned on this list 'the concept'. and 'the conceptualization'

 If I take out the word concept from all the papers that I am referencing, ontology as a science end ups like a colander, full of holes
If I take out concepts from my mind, my brain stops thinking. I cannot see anything anymore. I go blind Everything in my mind is a concept, as far as I can tell.

Yet I now feel that, given these discussion, maybe I should justify the word 'concept each time I use it (by concept I mean....)
somehow this is slowing me down This question has started to bug me

I personally think that 'concept' is a rather elementary and necessary _expression_ of thinking and a artifact of knowledge representation

Have you,  guys who don't think with concepts, written a paper, are you serious, or just joking? What are you going to substitute concept with?


Thanks a lot



Paola Di Maio *****(slightly disturbed)

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