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On 7/13/12 2:42 PM, Ed Barkmeyer wrote:
Kingsley Idehen wrote:
On 7/12/12 10:19 AM, John F Sowa wrote:
The terms Sinn and Bedeutung name two points on the meaning triangle.
In German, they are Zeichen, Sinn, Bedeutung -- usually translated
as sign, sense, and reference.
So for the Web medium one could map sign, sense, and reference as follows:
Sign -- URI based denotation
Sense -- Web Document that describes URI referent
Reference -- Description Subject .
I am very uncomfortable with this, but only in one way. The
problem is
that the Web document is not the Sense; it is just another Sign.
The
Sense is the meaning of the text in the document -- the
intended conceptualization in the human intellect. The Document
is
just another representation of that conceptualization.
This is a very important distinction, because for many persons,
the
intellectual conceptualization can be triggered by nothing more
than a
term, like "Murphy's Law". And "talking past one another" is a
direct
outgrowth of using only the term to evoke a conceptualization,
when a
definitional _expression_ of the intended concept might have evoked
the
intended conceptualization. For Frege, the Sense (Sinn) is
something
that occurs only in the human mind, and language is the primary
means
by which we evoke very similar Sinn things in different minds,
what the
SBVR lot call the "shared body of meaning". But terms and
documentary
descriptions are just different language constructs, different
Signs.
And that is even more true of software implementations. Some will
use
the URI only to evoke a specific internally encoded Sense, i.e. as
an
identifier; others may use the URI as a locator, to visit the site
and
process the Web document to create an internally encoded
Sense. (I am here relying on the idea that "internally encoded
Sense"
is the artifice that begets the term "artificial intelligence".)
Based on the above, a URI that denotes a subject could then use
indirection (explicitly or implicitly) to resolve to an actual Web
document (resource) that bears description (characterization) of its
referent. Basically, the Sign resolves to the Sense of its Referent.
Y..yes. I am trying to sort out two ideas here:
(a) the URI as Sign resolving to the Sense, and
(b) the URI as Sign resolving to the Referent.
The Sign resolves to the Sense either directly (by being
recognized as
being associated with that Sense) or indirectly (by causing the
user to
obtain that Sense from the Resource). When the Sense has a unique
Referent, then the Sign "implicitly" resolves to that Referent.
But:
- When the Sense is a more general concept, it may denote zero or
more
Referents.
- It is not clear that it is necessary for a Sense to be involved
in
relating a Sign to a specific Referent. The Sign might
"explicitly"
denote that Referent.
Frege is clear on this last point. That is why there is a
triangle,
not just an angle bracket. This is Lewis Carroll's distinction
between
the 'name of the song' and 'what the song is called'. The same
Referent 'song' can be reached by a number of Senses ('what the
song is
called') that connote properties that ultimately characterize only
the
Referent song, but the 'name of the song' denotes the Referent
song
without connoting any particular properties. (And that leads to
the
discussion of identity 'what the song is', but I leave
that to
others.)
-Ed
'The name of the song is called "Haddocks' Eyes."'
'Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel
interested.
'No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed.
'That's what the name is called. The name really is "The Aged Aged Man."'
'Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called"?' Alice
corrected herself.
'No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called "Ways
and Means": but that's only what it's called, you know!'
'Well, what is the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time
completely bewildered.
'I was coming to that,' the Knight said. 'The song really is "A-sitting
On A Gate": and the tune's my own invention.'
-- Lewis Carroll (C.L. Dodgson), "Through the Looking Glass"
--
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
"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST,
and have not been reviewed by any Government authority."
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Ed,
How about this, with a little more clarity on my side:
Sign -- URI that denotes an entity/thing .
Sense -- Web Document *Content* that describes URI referent e.g., via structured content that takes the form of an entity-attribue-value graph where each attribute=value pair coalesces around a Subject URI .
Reference -- Description Subject or URI Referent.
Thus, when using the World Wide Web from my computing device
(desktop, notebook, tablet, or phone) I can de-reference a URI and
then use my screen to sense what said URI denotes.
--
Regards,
Kingsley Idehen
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Personal Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen
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