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Re: [ontolog-forum] Truth

To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: John F Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:31:46 -0400
Message-id: <50102D82.9040808@xxxxxxxxxxx>
On 7/25/2012 12:44 PM, Pat Hayes wrote:
> Contexts are objects.  For more on this, see my paper on
> 'contexts in context' at the AAAI context symposium, visible at
> http://bit.ly/N2yGYa  .  But they key point is that there are not
> two or even twenty-two 'kinds' of context, but that being a context
> is more like a status or role than an ontological type. ANYTHING
> can be a 'context' in the right, um, context.    (01)

I agree.   But why do you keep your paper on that proprietary Google
docs site?  It's much easier to read or download in PDF format.    (02)

> If you want to think about how time influences meaning, think about
> temporal logics. If you want to think about how beliefs influence
> meaning, think about epistemic logics. If you want to think about
> fiction, study literary theory. But don't think that by calling
> all these (and so many other things) all "contexts" that you have
> thereby achieved any kind of insight or clarity. All you have done
> is get time and belief and fiction muddled, ie created confusion.    (03)

I agree with those observations.  Words like 'meaning', 'context',
and many others have an open-ended number of word senses.  Adopting
any of them as a technical term can only capture a tiny fraction
of their informal meaning.    (04)

For other examples, look at common words that have been made into
technical words in physics:  force, energy, mass, power...    (05)

What's the power of the presidency in megawatts?  What's the mass
of the mass market?  What's the force of the argument in dynes?    (06)

John    (07)



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