Just a bit more info on the Ontology Works (now Highfleet) naming model
for anyone interested. We started by defining three classes (when I
mention 'thing', I mean the most general class in the system, for
example covering both universals and particulars): (01)
Designator - The class of non-spatial particulars that designate, or
refer to, things. Common examples include
proper names, product names, part identification numbers, etc. (02)
Identifier - The class of designators that refer to at most one thing. (03)
Inscription - The class of particular physical marks, made in some
language or alphabet and intended to represent some designator/s. (04)
We then defined two primary relations: (05)
designatedBy - The relation between things and the designators that
refer to them (06)
inscribedBy - The relation between designators that the inscriptions
that are intended to represent them. (07)
The basic idea can be illustrated by considering an open book in front
of you. The ink stains you visually read are inscriptions on paper.
Because you're literate, you're able to interpret those ink stains as
representing words and linguistic expressions. Some of those words and
phrases are designators, referring to things (like the words 'cup'
'president of Russia', and 'dragon').
We intentionally leave open the question as to how particular terms like
'president of Russia', general terms like 'cup', and fictional terms
like 'dragon' refer. Be it classes, multiple pan-temporal reference, or
brain patterns, the model is open to interpretation. Rather than commit
to a theory of reference, we describe the general relation between
(meaningful) terms and those entities to which they (ultimately) refer. (08)
In symbolic terms, then, when John reads a book about Texaco, we might
describe part of this event by:
(book-1 isa Book)
(word-1 isa Inscription)
(desig-1 isa Designator) (09)
(book-1 contains word-1)
(desig-1 inscribedBy word-1)
(company-1 designatedBy desig-1) (010)
(company-1 hasName "Texaco") (011)
There are a bunch of supporting relations and attributes to help out
with data ingest and query, but this is more or less the primitive
structure. It's a data burden to reify individual words and phrases, of
course, but if you find yourself in the situation of really worrying
about such things, models like this can help.
-Ryan (012)
Alex Shkotin wrote:
> Hi Pat,
>
> Name is so subtle that there is a whole book
> The Philosophy of Name
> by Alexey Losev.
>
> see more at http://www.isfp.co.uk/russian_thinkers/alexey_losev.html
>
> Alex
>
> 2010/3/28 Patrick Cassidy <pat@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:pat@xxxxxxxxx>>
>
> On just one point:
>
> > Pavithra wrote
> >
> > > ...
> > > I agree, that in Classes, one has to define the attribute as
> "Name"
> > and specify it as a character string which can have a value
> "Kermit"!
> >
>
> [Doug Foxvog]: > I prefer John Sowa's distinction, in which the
> name is not
> a character
> > string, but something that has a character string as a spelling.
> >
>
> Yes, names are subtler than they appear at first. The Ontology
> Works base
> ontology had an elaborate system to distinguish 'Identifiers" from the
> various strings that represent them. Things one has to
> distinguish are the
> original name in the original language, its written form (if any)
> in the
> original language, its original pronunciation, any alternative script
> transliterations, language changes ("Morningstar" for
> "Morgenstern"), and of
> course name changes, aliases, cognomens, nicknames, abbreviations,
> etc. And
> then there are odd adaptations: in Chinese, the word for San
> Francisco is "
> 旧金山” (Jiu Jin Shan), which translates as "Old Gold Mountain".
> And then
> there are things used as an effort at unique identifiers, such as
> Social
> Security Number, email address, telephone number, Employee
> Identification
> Number, etc. Lots of fun trying to represent and relate all of them.
>
> And does anyone know how the string "Georgia" came to be applied
> to the
> country "Gruzya" (another transliteration)?
>
> Pat
>
> Patrick Cassidy
> MICRA, Inc.
> 908-561-3416
> cell: 908-565-4053
> cassidy@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:cassidy@xxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>
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