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Re: [ontolog-forum] Person, Boy, Man

To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: John McClure <jmcclure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 15:35:30 -0800
Message-id: <52FD56C2.2080505@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 From COSMO:
    <owl:objectproperty rdf:id="wasOfType">
         <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#NonFunctionalObject">
         <rdfs:comment>'wasOfType' relates a 'NonFunctionalObject' to
           the type that it was originally, before becoming non-functional.
           For example, the FuneraryAshes of a Person were of type
           'Person' at one time.</rdfs:comment>
     </rdfs:domain></owl:objectproperty>    (01)

Is this not relevant to much what I have been saying, and to this thread 
too?
/throwing his hands up in the air... jmc    (02)

On 2/13/2014 3:14 PM, Matthew West wrote:
> Dear Pat,
> Can I ask you to do an experiment with Venn diagrams.
> Take a piece of paper and draw a circle, label it child, and place (say)
> three labels inside: C1, C2, C3. Now draw another circle, label it man, and
> draw three labels inside, M1, M2, M3. Now, if each child is a person, and
> each man is a person ( which is what subtype/supertype means) then you can
> draw a circle round your first two circles and label it person.
> The problem is that C1 grows up to be M1, and C2 to be M2 and C3 to be M3,
> so you probably want to say that they are the "same" person, but we have
> two.
> You can try this the other way round. Draw a circle, name it person, with
> three labels, P1, P2, P3. Now draw a circle round the subtype that is the
> children, and another one that is the men.
> Do you still think that the relationship between child and person is
> subtype/supertype? (There is a relationship, it just is not
> subtype/supertype).
>
> Regards
> Matthew
>
> Matthew,
>     It seems from your earlier post that 'StateOfPerson' is a class of time
> slices of Person, and 'Boy' is a subclass of  'StateOfPerson'.  That works
> logically, but most languages adopt the view of objects as endurants, and in
> that view, 'Boy' would be a subclass of 'Person', meaning that every
> instance of 'Boy' is an instance of 'Person'.  It is true that 'Boy' is also
> a Role of a person, which has a finite time extension.  That view can be
> accommodated in an endurant (3D)  ontology.  My concern, as I mentioned
> before, is to keep the ontology as close as possible to linguistic usage,
> and that can be done in 3D with clean logical relations, when one
> distinguishes the different meanings that a word may take in different
> contexts.
>
> For some specific applications a strictly 4D ontology may work fine.  We can
> of course create translations from 3D to 4D and back when needed.  I just
> prefer to work in 3D because it seems easier to create labels that serve as
> better  mnemonics to help the user to recall the intended meaning.   Making
> an ontology easy to use is to me an important goal.
>
> Pat
>
> Patrick Cassidy
> MICRA Inc.
> cassidy@xxxxxxxxx
> 1-908-561-3416
>
>
>   >-----Original Message-----
>   >From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-
>> bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Matthew West
>   >Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 8:29 AM
>   >To: '[ontolog-forum] '
>   >Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Person, Boy, Man  >  >Dear Patrick,  >  >Up
> to now I have assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that a "time slice" of
>> something refers to a time slice of an individual.
>   >[MW>] That is correct.
>   >But "man" and "boy"
>   >are classes, not individuals, and I need clarification from the experts as
> to  >whether a "time slice" can really be a class?  In what formalism is
> that not  >possible?
>   >[MW>] Well individual is also a class, man and boy are just classes whose
>> members are timeslices of some person.
>   >
>   >If an ontology is to be used in Natural Language Processing (a critical
>> application, IMHO), then it should diverge from linguistic usage only where
>> necessary.  I agree that language has some aspects that do not translate
> well  >into the logical format of ontologies, but the subclass relation of
> "boy"
> to
>   >"person" seems very well established in ordinary usage, and if any
> ontology  >formalism cannot represent that relation, I do not see much of a
> future for  >that formalism.
>   >[MW>] We say that a man is a person, but this is very ambiguous. There are
>> at least three interpretations of "is a" and we usually leave the
> distinguishing  >pieces out:
>   >
>   >1. "Matthew is a person". This is a classification relation, and should
> more  >fully be stated "Matthew is an instance of person."
>   >2. "A female is a person". This is a subtype relation, and should more
> fully be  >stated "Each female is also a person", or "female is a subtype of
> person".
>   >3. "A boy is a person". This is a temporal part relation and should more
> fully  >be stated "Each boy is a state (or stage, or part of the life) of a
> person".
>   >
>   >One of the problems with language is that we leave out as much context as
>> we think we can get away with, and sometimes find we have left out too
>> much.
>   >
>   >Regards
>   >
>   >Matthew West
>   >Information  Junction
>   >Mobile: +44 750 3385279
>   >Skype: dr.matthew.west
>   >matthew.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>   >http://www.informationjunction.co.uk/
>   >https://www.matthew-west.org.uk/
>   >This email originates from Information Junction Ltd. Registered in England
>> and Wales No. 6632177.
>   >Registered office: 8 Ennismore Close, Letchworth Garden City,
> Hertfordshire,
>   >SG6 2SU.
>   >
>   >
>   >
>   >Pat
>   >
>   >Patrick Cassidy
>   >MICRA Inc.
>   >cassidy@xxxxxxxxx
>   >1-908-561-3416
>   >
>   >
>   > >-----Original Message-----
>   > >From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-
>>> bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of doug foxvog  > >Sent: Tuesday,
> February 11, 2014 4:49 PM  > >To: [ontolog-forum]  > >Subject: Re:
> [ontolog-forum] Person, Boy, Man  >  >On Tue, February 11,
>   >2014 15:13, Ali H wrote:
>   > >> On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 2:48 PM, John McClure  >>
>   ><jmcclure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>   > >
>   > >>>  Take a Person for example, with subclasses Boy and Man.
>   > >*[MW] The main
>   > >>>> problem with this is that Boy and Man are not subtypes of person.
>   > >>>> For Boy and Man to be subtypes of Person, each Boy is a Person, and
>>>>>> each Man is a (different) Person.
>   > >>>> What would be correct is that Boy and Man a subtypes of  >>>>
>> StateOfPerson, and that each StateOfPerson is a temporalPart of a  >>>>
>   >Person.*  >  >This is forcing a 4D view on those who don't wish to use it.
>   > >
>   > >Instead of claiming one model is (in)correct, it would be nicer to say,
> "In the  >>4D model, non-rigid classes such as Boy and Man, are not subtypes
> of rigid  >>classes such as Person.  A 4D model would consider Boy and Man
> to be  >>subtypes of a non-rigid StateOfPerson, and ..."
>   > >
>   > >>> To most people, and dictionaries, Boy and Man are subtypes of Person.
>   > >
>   > >The relation "subtype" means that any instance of the first thing  are
>>> instances of the second thing.  In 4D a Man or Boy is a time slice of a
>>> MalePerson.
>   > >For
>   > >someone using 3D(+1) at any time there is an instance of a Man or Boy,
>> that  >instance is also an instance of Person.
>   > >
>   > >>> Second, should a KB contain both a Boy & Man resource about a given
>>>>> individual, owl:sameAs would be used to indicate their equivalence
>>>>>>>>   >otherwise, yes, they would be a different person, as they should
> be.
>   > >
>   > >If Man & Boy were defined as disjoint, then nothing could simultaneously
>> be  >an instance of both.  But something could in one context be an
> instance  >of  >one and in another context be an instance of the other.
>   > >
>   > >> First, you might want to take a look at the Ontoclean paper [1],[2].
>   > >> In this view, Boy is not Rigid, and hence not recommended to be  >>
>> related to a Person via a subtype relationship.
>   > >
>   > >All this means is that Ontoclean promotes a 4D view.  If this is merely
> a  >>recommendation it does not require 4D.
>   > >
>   > >>> Third, StateofPerson is a wholly artificial term, lacking both  >>>
> practical  >merit and semantic credibility. Fourth, this is a fine  >>>
> example of  >ontologists' implicit saintliness modelling 'concepts' not
>>> 'language'.
>   > >
>   > >> Secondly, from your posts to this forum, this (the privileging or  >>
>> equating ontology to language) seems to be a major point of departure  >>
> >from your perspective and (I suspect) many ontologists on the list.
>   > >
>   > >I agree.  Language can inform ontologies but they are quite different.
>   > >
>   > >If computer ontologies were originated by speakers of a language that
>>> differentiates "is currently" from "is necessarily", that distinction
>>> would  >be  >part of the ontology language.  There would be classes which
> instances  >are  >necessarily members of, and classes which instances may be
> members  >of for  >part of their existence (of which subclasses would be
> necessarily  > >(non)  > >initial, necessarily (non) final, and those which
> an instance can join and  >leave  >multiple times).  It would also probably
> have resulted in three or  >more  >subclass/subtype relations: one between
> rigid classes, one between
>   >non-  >rigid and rigid classes, and one (or more) between non-rigid
> classes.
>   > >
>   > >-- doug
>   > >
>   > >> Langauge and
>   > >> ontology *are not* the same things. While language may contain many
>>>> clues as to how ontologically model something, it is only that - a clue.
>   > >> ...
>   > >
>   > >> I suspect the majority of ontologists have come to at least the  >>
>> following conclusions:
>   > >>
>   > >>    1. Ontology != Language
>   > >>    2. There are serious limits to linguistic clues in building an
>   > >> ontology ...
>   > >
>   > >> Best,
>   > >> Ali
>   > >>
>   > >
>   > >
>   > >
>   >
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