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Re: [ontolog-forum] Conjunction and Disjunction

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: ra33@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 07:49:20 +1200 (NZST)
Message-id: <58502.66.127.55.197.1246736960.squirrel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Rob wrote:
> "Going to *the* bathroom" can also mean you went out back and fertilized the
> lemon tree. (i.e., not only is "the" often used generically as "a", but also
> metaphorical).
>   Rob    (01)

> Metaphor is too complex to deal with, IMHO, prior to the controlled language
> JS describes.  The problems of metaphor, at least as I see it, are distinct
> from the problems of linguistic mappings from reality to FOL.  Metaphor
> happens after that step, when you MUST use inference to reach assertions
> that cannot be directly read from the axioms.
> Rich    (02)

I agree pretty much. But I don't see the harm in chipping away 
metaphor-by-metaphor
(or analogy/simile/xyz) as a way of enhancing understanding/translation. Human 
discourse
is heavily saturated with figurative references ("a stitch in time, saves nine" 
is not
about sewing). Cliches ("No pain, no gain", "You have to break some eggs to 
make an
omelet") so favored by managers who are analysis-challenged are similarly 
figurative
(but I would believe, 'translatable' expressions). My bottom-line is there's a 
danger of
getting too literal-minded about meaning that we lose the intended meaning. So 
why not
incrementally macro our way out of many of these expressions (as well as the 
host of
others) when we try to use machines to parse-and-compile human expressions? 
[the many
faces of "the" being an example starting point]
Rob
*********    (03)


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