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Re: [ontolog-forum] Model or Reality

To: "Cassidy, Patrick J." <pcassidy@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:48:37 -0400
Message-id: <46BA2C25.2060609@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Pat,    (01)

We've gone over this issue again and again over the past
many years:    (02)

PC> The issue is whether we can have a single self-consistent
 > foundation ontology that can be used to define all other
 > ontologies.    (03)

And we've always come back to exactly the same answer:    (04)

  1. Yes, it is possible to have a large umbrella ontology,
     *provided that* it has very few detailed axioms.    (05)

  2. But all detailed axioms must be put into the special
     purpose theories that enable detailed reasoning for
     specialized applications.    (06)

PC> I do not have any concern with contradictory models used
 > in scientific theories, because as you note, we all know
 > that these are approximations...    (07)

Every accepted theory in science is an *approximation* --
that is the fundamental principle of science -- everything
that we think we know is potentially falsifiable.    (08)

PC> ... theories useful in particular circumstances, not as
 > the **final and only** model of reality.    (09)

Please write the following statement on the blackboard (or
the whiteboard) one thousand times:    (010)

    There is not and never will be a final and only model of reality.    (011)

How many times do we have to keep repeating the obvious?    (012)

John    (013)


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