I was willing to let John have the last word, but I just can't agree with the
spirit of John's tag line: (01)
> Therefore, both the laws of human science and the laws of human social
> institutions have a narrow range of definiteness and a large area of
> vagueness, uncertainty, and multiple exceptions. (02)
On a grand scale, this is true. Newtonian physics and social norms are equally
unreliable predictors of the behavior of things. But if that were true on the
scale of projects in which we are typically engaged, it follows that "knowledge
engineering" and "ontology development" are pointless exercises -- garbage in,
garbage out. The reality is that for our application domains, the "narrow
range of definiteness" covers most of the domain of interest, and we have to
choose a language and an AI technology and engineer the ontology to deal with
known areas of uncertainty and exception. The implication of that
characterization is importantly different -- what we do can have practical
value, as long as we can tell the difference. (03)
I worry that this kind of abstract truth will confuse, rather than enlighten,
the junior members of our profession, and our potential sponsors. They don't
think on a grand scale; it has nothing to do with their mission. They think on
an applied scale. This is exactly the kind of thing you don't want quoted out
of context, because the statement itself is unequivocal, but the intent (and
the truth of it) is only macrocosmic. (04)
A lot of us are engineers, and we are too ignorant to know when you are only
talking philosophy. :-) (05)
-Ed (06)
--
Edward J. Barkmeyer Email: edbark@xxxxxxxx
National Institute of Standards & Technology
Systems Integration Division
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8263 Work: +1 301-975-3528
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8263 Mobile: +1 240-672-5800 (07)
"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST,
and have not been reviewed by any Government authority." (08)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-
> bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John F Sowa
> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 4:55 PM
> To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Laws: physical and social
>
> Doug,
>
> Our responses to Ed's note crossed in the mail. They are very compatible,
> but I'd like to add a few points:
>
> > Even social laws are often contextual even within the appropriate
> > jurisdiction and applicable time frame. Breaking & entering laws
> > stretch if someone breaks into a burning building to save a person
> > inside.
>
> The laws, as drafted, are written for the expected or typical cases.
> But they run into all the complexities of *both* nature and society.
>
> > Ed says that different types of "laws" should be distinguished.
> > I agree because they have different properties. John was emphasizing
> > some commonalities, but i would not be surprised if he also found it
> > useful to distinguish the subclasses.
>
> Peirce said that there is a continuum for both kinds of laws.
>
> The ultimate (still unknown) laws of nature may be absolutely true, but any
> laws that science discovers have only been tested on some small, finite range
> of conditions.
>
> Therefore, both the laws of human science and the laws of human social
> institutions have a narrow range of definiteness and a large area of
> vagueness, uncertainty, and multiple exceptions.
>
> John
>
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