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Re: [ontolog-forum] Endurantism and Perdurantism - Re: Some Comments on

To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: John F Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2015 16:23:44 -0400
Message-id: <551EF6D0.8020602@xxxxxxxxxxx>
On 4/3/2015 3:19 PM, Obrst, Leo J. wrote:
> This is a point of disagreement, I think, between logicians and
> ontologists (qua metaphysicians). The former think that expressing
> / representing something is equivalent to it being so, and that
> the "being so" doesn't matter that much. The latter think not.    (01)

But there are three things to distinguish, not just two.  Following
is an excerpt from a previous note I wrote on this thread:    (02)

> We have to distinguish
>
>    A) The way the world (or universe) actually happens to be
>       -- about which all of us have some shared opinions and
>       scientists have more detailed analyses and theories.
>
>    B) The way people talk in everyday language or in any
>       artificial notation, such as formal logic.
>
>    C) An ontology about the world that happens to be useful
>       for some particular task or group of related tasks.    (03)

Category B includes any kind of language or logic.  Category C
includes any theory about the world by ontologists, by scientists,
or by engineers who apply ontology or science to a particular task.    (04)

But we have to recognize that the world A is not identical to
the way B we talk about it or the way C that some scientists,
engineers, or ontologists characterize it.    (05)

Every mapping to the world A from any language B or any theory C
is an *approximation* whose usefulness depends on the application.
When the application changes, we may need to use a different
approximation -- i.e., different theory of ontology or science.    (06)

John    (07)

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