Chris wrote: "A logic is a representational medium for an ontology. A
logic is not itself an ontology (except perhaps in a trivial sense)."
That's the main point on the computing ontology agenda, and the very
timely reminding for the SW folks as well.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 5:17
PM
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Just What Is
an Ontology, Anyway?
On Oct 22, 2009, at 6:00 PM, Adrian Walker wrote:
Hi All,
For modern usage, I'd rate Ed
Barkmeyer's definition of 'ontology' as the most satisfactory so
far.
+1
Here it is:
What makes written knowledge
an "ontology" is that the language has a grammar and an interpretation
of the grammatical constructs that is suitable for automated
reasoning.
Otherwise (if less colorfully) put, what makes written knowledge an
ontology is that it is expressed in a logic (i.e., a formal language + model
theory) with a complete proof theory.
To forestall what seems an inevitable misreading by some in this forum:
Note I said that ontologies are expressed in a logic. A logic is
a representational medium for an ontology. A logic is not itself an
ontology (except perhaps in a trivial sense).
-chris
ps: On the definition of a logic above, see Part A of Barwise and
Feferman,
Model Theoretic Logics (Springer Verlag, 1985). I
should note that this fantastic resource (which IIRC originally cost well over
$150) has been put online and made available at no cost to the public:
http://tinyurl.com/ylojq4p .
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