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Re: [ontolog-forum] Terminologies and Ontologies

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "doug foxvog" <doug@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 19:08:15 -0400 (EDT)
Message-id: <1349.70.110.17.10.1304291295.squirrel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

On Sun, May 1, 2011 1:10, John F. Sowa said:
> On 4/30/2011 11:24 PM, doug foxvog wrote:
>> Note that a theory about how (some aspect of) the world works is
>> qualitatively different from a theory about how specific objects
>> interact using the more general theory.  One could distinguish the
>> general theory ontology from more specific knowledge bases about
>> separate sets of instances of the types of things which the theory
>> is about.    (01)

> I agree with that as a general principle, but there are borderline
> cases that blur the distinction.    (02)

> For example, the sun, earth, and moon are specific objects
> that also happen to be one of their kind (at least for normal
> human experience).  So any general ontology that is adequate
> for human experience will include many terms that are defined
> in terms of those special objects:  day, night, month, year,
> summer, winter, eclipse, latitude, longitude, mountain,
> earthquake, ocean, sunburn, etc.    (03)

Yes.  I did simplify my description.  Each Cyc #$Microtheory (context)
may have a set of assertions that help define that context.  This is
the proper place for defining (or referencing) individuals (such as the
Sun or specific #$GeopoliticalEntity) which are special to that context.
Such individuals are expected to be used within the context.  However,
when Cyc moved all basic definitional vocabulary terms to the
#$UniversalVocabularyMt such linkages got lost.    (04)

> DF
>> For our purposes, we could consider Vocabulary, Theory, and Data
>> Contexts.    (05)

> [Examples of this principle removed]
>
> That is just one more example why I don't expect the world
> to adopt a single world-wide ontology for a long, long time.    (06)

If we did create theory contexts, we would want to allow individuals
which are critical to the specific theories in the context, and to
designate them as such.    (07)

-- doug    (08)

> John    (09)



=============================================================
doug foxvog    doug@xxxxxxxxxx   http://ProgressiveAustin.org    (010)

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great
initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours."
    - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
=============================================================    (011)


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