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Re: [ontolog-forum] Science, Statistics and Ontolog

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ed Barkmeyer <edbark@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:50:03 -0500
Message-id: <4EC3E9BB.7060700@xxxxxxxx>


Sean Barker wrote:    (01)

>   I tend rather to the view that our ontologies are the result of a 
> dialect between our current ontology (somewhat culturally derived) and 
> our experience (given the qualification that our experience is couched 
> in terms of our ontology). On the assumption that there is an 
> underlying physical reality (an objective set of causal relations) 
> then - in a sort of Newton-Raphson convergence - eventually we should 
> get an ontology from which we can infer the results of future 
> experience. However, this is a distinction of methodology, and makes 
> no difference to Hume's point. Once you assume (reasonably) that there 
> are underlying causal relationships, the problem is then how to 
> reliably uncover them.
>
> Sean Barker, Bristol
>    (02)

The presumption of value in knowledge engineering (as distinct from 
philosophy) seems to be based on this view.
I am reminded, however, of an apt aphorism from Samuel L. Clemens (aka 
Mark Twain):    (03)

"The trick is to glean from an experience exactly the knowledge that is
contained in it.  A cat which sits down on a hot stove will never do it
again, but it will never sit on a cold stove again either."
        -- Mark Twain    (04)


-Ed    (05)

-- 
Edward J. Barkmeyer                        Email: edbark@xxxxxxxx
National Institute of Standards & Technology
Manufacturing Systems Integration Division
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8263                Tel: +1 301-975-3528
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8263                Cel: +1 240-672-5800    (06)




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