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Re: [ontolog-forum] Laws: physical and social

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Avril Styrman <Avril.Styrman@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 02 Jun 2013 15:34:24 +0300
Message-id: <20130602153424.Horde.ZxmMp5QPrNy-P7Z8zppnLA7.astyrman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi John,    (01)

if you happen to have time, you could check out the phd. Now less than  
100 pages! I would really appreciate your comments.    (02)

Avril    (03)


Quoting John F Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>:    (04)

> In various notes to Ontolog Forum, I emphasized the importance of laws
> (both physical and social) as a foundation for ontology.  I won't go
> into all the details, but I'd like to make a few comments:
>
>   1. Laws of physics provide a more fundamental explanation of many
>      properties than the notions of "disposition" or "tendency".
>      Physicists, for example, would explain why glass is fragile
>      along the following lines:
>
>      "Look at the structure of the material and how the atoms and
>      molecules are linked to one another.  Given that structure
>      and the laws of quantum mechanics, you can predict that under
>      certain conditions, something made of steel will bend, and
>      something of the same shape but made of glass will break."
>
>   2. Many people have found the term 'disposition' to be useful in
>      defining terms in an ontology.  I have no objection to using
>      those terms to simplify an explanation.  But I would *not*
>      treat dispositions as fundamental.  The word 'disposition' is
>      just a shorthand way of saying that there exists a law that
>      makes a certain kind of prediction.
>
>   3. For the social sciences, the interactions are far more complex
>      than in physics.  But there are regularities that can be used to
>      make predictions that have a high probability of being correct.
>      For example:
>
>      a) If you go to a store and pay the asking price for an item,
>         the sales clerk will take the money and give you the item.
>
>      b) If you drive on a highway and stay on the designated side
>         of the road, other drivers will stay on their side and
>         avoid hitting you or your car.
>
>      c) If you work for a company and repeatedly fail to do what
>         your manager asks you to do, you will be fired.
>
> For reasoning about social interactions, the laws aren't as strict
> as the laws of physics, but game theory has proved to be useful.
> Following is a survey article from the _Scientific American_:
>
> http://www.ped.fas.harvard.edu/people/faculty/publications_nowak/SciAm02.pdf
> The economics of fair play
>
> Following is an influential book on the subject:
>
>     Axelrod, Robert (1984) _The Evolution of Cooperation_,
>     New York: Basic Books. Revised edition, Perseus Books, 2006.
>
> It's significant that Richard Dawkins, who wrote the book
> _The Selfish Gene_, wrote a highly favorable forward to the
> revised edition of Axelrod's book.
>
> I'm happy to see that Dawkins endorses Axelrod's book, but
> I remain skeptical about the memes that Dawkins proposes.
>
> For more info about related issues, see Axelrod's home page:
>
>     http://www-personal.umich.edu/~axe/
>
> I followed some of those links to a review of Daniel Dennet's
> book, _Darwin's Dangerous Idea_ by H. Allen Orr:
>
>     http://bostonreview.net/BR21.3/Orr.html
>
>  From the concluding section of the review:
>
> HAO
>> Although he has produced a provocative and intermittently
>> entertaining book, Dennett's chief claim is unconvincing.
>> Darwinism may have little to tell us outside of biology.
>
> I strongly agree with that last line.  I also agree with
> Orr's criticisms of Dennet's version of memes.
>
> In summary, I believe that laws of nature and social behavior
> are a better foundation for ontology than dispositions.  I
> would also recommend game theory as a useful methodology
> for reasoning about social behavior.
>
> John
>
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Ystävällisin terveisin,    (06)

Avril Styrman
avril.styrman@xxxxxxxxxxx
puh. +358 40 7000 589    (07)

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