ontolog-forum
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [ontolog-forum] Just What Is an Ontology, Anyway?

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:53:09 -0500
Message-id: <4AEE1F65.1090800@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Doug,    (01)

DMcD> John, I thought it was a lattice of theories.  Did you change
 > your thinking on that when I wasn't looking?    (02)

No. I still advocate a lattice of theories as the potentially infinite
theoretical structure.  However, it's impossible to implement an
infinite lattice.    (03)

Therefore, at any point in time, only a subset of the lattice can
be populated with theories that have actually been defined.  That
subset must be a hierarchy (partial ordering).  But there are
likely to be gaps that keep it from being a complete lattice.    (04)

So we can use the term 'hierarchy' for those theories that are
defined, and 'lattice' for the infinite structure that will never
actually be completed.    (05)

John    (06)


_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/  
Config Subscr: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/  
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ 
To join: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J
To Post: mailto:ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    (07)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>