On Jan 6, 2009, at 11:03 AM, Patrick Cassidy wrote:
> The problem with letting the "market" determine standards is that
> there has to be an effective "market", with multiple candidates, and
> multiple users, for it to work. In the case of a foundation
> ontology, there have been publicly available candidates for over 6
> years, but as yet there are few users (applications, anyone?) and
> nothing remotely resembling a "market" has developed. This should
> give us a clue that we are dealing with a technology that is not
> simplistically analogous to the ones we are accustomed to. On
> reflection this should not be terribly surprising -- a proper
> foundation ontology will have the content and expressive power of a
> human language, (01)
I'm guessing that what you have in mind here is simply that the
language of a foundational ontology should enable us to give adequate
formal expression (in a sense that itself needs clarification) to
anything we can say in a natural language. Sure thing. That said, I
think it is best to avoid using terms like "expressive power" that
have clear mathematical meanings to convey informal ideas. This is
admittedly a pet peeve of mine, but one that I think is reasonable, as
the use of such terms easily leads to confusion (since their meanings
in informal contexts are inevitably different than their formal
meanings). And, although I do not believe it is Patrick's intent
here, all too often such terms are used rhetorically to suggest a
greater degree of clarity and rigor than is warranted. (02)
> and nothing like it has been actually developed **and widely used**
> up to now (WordNet is not an ontology in that sense). (03)
Or any other, I'd say. ;-) (04)
-chris (05)
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