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Re: [ontolog-forum] Truth

To: "Avril Styrman" <Avril.Styrman@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: John Bottoms <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Pat Hayes <phayes@xxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2012 20:57:46 -0500
Message-id: <876732ED-CC07-4882-89BD-073FA8280DA0@xxxxxxx>

On Jul 25, 2012, at 3:43 PM, Avril Styrman wrote:    (01)

> Pat,
> 
> can you cite any article that talks about contexts in terms of sets with 
>different ranks?    (02)

Not sure what you mean by 'rank' here. Do you mean as in set theory where the 
rank of an ordinal is the ordinal? If so, I don't know how to interpret that in 
context language, but it sounds intriguing.    (03)

Pat    (04)


> In flat theories such as mereology and Boolean algebras everything is on the 
>same level, but in set theories there are different granular levels.
> 
> Avril
> 
> Lainaus "Pat Hayes" <phayes@xxxxxxx>:
> 
>> 
>> On Jul 25, 2012, at 6:44 AM, John Bottoms wrote:
>> 
>>> On 7/25/2012 7:25 AM, John F Sowa wrote:
>>>> On 7/25/2012 12:45 AM, Pat Hayes wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> JMcC's point was that there was no single "theory" of contexts; that
>>>>> contexts are not a natural kind, and a "context" is just anything
>>>>> that anyone cares to use in a context kind of a way, ie as something
>>>>> that influences truth values and denotations.
>>>>> 
>>> It almost sounds like there are two definitions of "context".
>> 
>> Two? TWO??? I attended several workshops and meetings on the theme of 
>contexts and context reasoning. At one of them I took careful notes. Over 
>three days of talks, no two speakers used the same sense of "context". They 
>were all talking about different things, ranging in scope from a psychological 
>state lasting a few miiliseconds to an entire human culture lasting millennia. 
>When people say "context" they simply mean "all the stuff that I havn't got an 
>explicit theory of".  I have in fact offered this as a definition of "context" 
>at the Heidelberg ontology meeting (which John Sowa was also present at):
>> 
>> Context
>> The meaning of language is influenced by a very large number of factors. No 
>theory of meaning is comprehensive enough to account for all of these; 
>particular theories of meaning focus on some and analyze them in detail, and 
>ignore others completely. For each such theory of meaning, the combined effect 
>of the factors which the theory does not explicitly address is often called a 
>"context".
>> 
>>> One is the perceived setting which may evoke observations based on the 
>level and type of perception. While the other is the brute-force real world 
>set of facts? Is this correct?  And if so, should we have different terms by 
>the type of context we refer to?
>> 
>> The brute force real world (or part of it) is the context, not facts about 
>that real world. 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.
>> 
>>> JB: My fear is that by not defining a context type we will disparage its 
>use. That would be awkward.
>> 
>> What do you see the "use" of contexts as being? Personally, I think we would 
>make great progress (indeed, we ARE making great progress) by eliminating all 
>talk of "contexts" entirely, and doing our utmost best to forget about the 
>term as being pre-scientific and confusing. If you want to think about how 
>time influences meaning, think about temporal logics. If you want to think 
>about how beliefs influence meaing, 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.
>> 
>> Pat
>> 
>> 
>>>> I agree with that idea.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> my (often repeated) objection that time, for example, and belief,
>>>>> for example, were very different kinds of thing and influenced
>>>>> truth in very different kinds of ways...
>>>>> 
>>>> I also agree with that.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> his response was always that the point of a context logic was not
>>>>> to capture the essence or nature of contexts, but rather to be simply
>>>>> a general framework for stating inferences which might be influenced
>>>>> by *any* kind of context.
>>>>> 
>>>> And I have no objection to that idea.
>>>> 
>>>> JFS
>>>> 
>>>>>> "(that p)" is a kind of quasi-quotation that allows
>>>>>> variables in p to be bound to quantifiers outside of p.
>>>>>> 
>>>> PH
>>>> 
>>>>> Hmm, I don't think it is correct to think of it as quasi-quotation.
>>>>> Rather than quoting the sentence, it treats it as defining a
>>>>> zero-ary predicate, and creates a term denoting that entity.
>>>>> 
>>>> The backquote in LISP can be applied to any expression.  The IKL
>>>> 'that' operator can be implemented in LISP by applying backquote
>>>> to sentences in some version of logic.
>>>> 
>>>> That is an explanation that is meaningless to anybody who does
>>>> not know LISP.  But LISP aficionados like that way of talking.
>>>> 
>>>> In any case, I agree that your definition is the proper way
>>>> to define 'that' in purely CL or IKL terms.
>>>> 
>>>> John
>>>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Avril Styrman
> +358 40 7000 589
> 
>     (05)

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IHMC                                     (850)434 8903 or (650)494 3973   
40 South Alcaniz St.           (850)202 4416   office
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phayesAT-SIGNihmc.us       http://www.ihmc.us/users/phayes    (06)






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