Dear Paola, (01)
Among philosophers of science, I believe that the notion of fruitfulness is
reasonably well established. Examples of it would be applications of a
theory to things that the progenitor had no conception of when he or she put
the theory forward. There are lots of quoted examples from Newton's and
Einstein's work. There is also a lot of material on the web (and ones local
library), if one has time to research it. I understand that among many
working scientists fruitfulness in this sense is regarded as a key test of
whether a theory is good/useful or not - so at least some people hold it in
high regard. (02)
I am not aware of an argument that fruitfulness of a scientific theory in
the established sense is relative in the sense you claim "(what may fruitful
for you, may be fruitless for me)" nor any examples - if you know of such an
argument or example I'd be interested. (03)
I would suggest it would make sense for us to agree to use the term in their
sense, unless we can provide overriding reasons for a new sense. (04)
Regards,
Chris (05)
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-
>bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx
>Sent: 24 January 2008 10:47
>To: [ontolog-forum]
>Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Time representation
>
>Matthew
>
>it all depends what is fruitful, which is a very relative term, unless
>constrained
>(what may fruitful for you, may be fruitless for me)
>
>For me fffp is necessary to fruitfulness, whatever way you are going
>to define that
>
>We can start the controlled vocabulary for this forum anytime you
>think its needed
>:-)
>
>cheers
>PDM
>
>
>On Jan 24, 2008 5:32 PM, <matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Dear Paola,
>>
>> > > I know from experience that software engineers often try to
>> > build their
>> > > artefacts to accommodate potential future changes. How to
>> > do this is an
>> > > active area of debate.
>> >
>> > - we got to this point a few months back
>> > are there patterns of change?
>> > time is one of the factors that determines patterns of change
>> >
>> > >
>> > > If you want to argue that fruitfulness is not yet well
>> > understood - I would
>> >
>> > > Anyway, the point I wished to make is that providing an
>> > artefact that will
>> > > somehow support requirements that I have not yet specified
>> > is recognised as
>> > > an important consideration by software engineers and has
>> > its counterpart
>> > > 'fruitfulness' in science.
>> > >
>> >
>> > important point too - fruitfulness, or at least 'fitness for purpose'
>> > if the fruitfulness debate is not going to be conclusive quickly
>> > enough
>>
>> MW: No. "fit-for-purpose" is the enemy of fruitfulness. Fit-for-purpose
>> says that it is good enough if it does just what I need and no more.
>> Fruitfulness is about the unexpected usefulness that was not part of
>> the original purpose.
>>
>> MW: By the way, fruitfulness is not more expensive (in my experience)
>> than fit-for-purpose. It is mostly about the way you approach problem
>> solving.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Matthew West
>> Reference Data Architecture and Standards Manager
>> Shell International Petroleum Company Limited
>> Registered in England and Wales
>> Registered number: 621148
>> Registered office: Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom
>>
>> Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Mobile: +44 7796 336538
>> Email: matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx
>> http://www.shell.com
>> http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>--
>Paola Di Maio
>School of IT
>www.mfu.ac.th
>*********************************************
>
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