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Re: [ontology-summit] Dispositions [Was: Thank you.]

To: ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: John F Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:18:43 -0400
Message-id: <5142F583.7060903@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Ravi,    (01)

The points you mention get into many important, but thorny issues
of metaphysics.  I believe that they deserve all the attention that
philosophers have devoted to them over the centuries.    (02)

RS
> I reached conclusion that nature of objects - deserves study of
> 'disposition' as it stimulates understanding of underlying nature...    (03)

That is an important issue for philosophers to discuss.    (04)

But -- and this is a very big *BUT* -- most people who need to build
and maintain ontologies are *not* professional philosophers.  They
need reliable guidelines that they can understand.  For them, words
like 'disposition' or 'essence', which philosophers have been kicking
around for centuries are *worse* than useless as guidelines.    (05)

RS
> I have yet to relate this concept to events and processes, thinking
> and knowledge representations that also can use ontology constructs.    (06)

I would encourage ontologists to read what the philosophers have written
about these issues.  But I would not recommend that they get bogged
down in the same swamp where even professional philosophers get stuck
(or eaten by alligators -- AKA other philosophers).    (07)

For example, I have often discussed Peirce's terms, Firstness,
Secondness, and Thirdness, which are even more confusing than
dispositions and essences.  But I have learned to replace those
words by simple question words:  What?  How?  Why?    (08)

The answer to What? gives you Firstness.  The answer to How? gives
you Secondness.  And the answer to Why? gives you Thirdness.
The Why? question is the one that gives most ontologists the most
trouble, but it focuses attention on the real issues.    (09)

Recommendation for ontologists:  Don't get hung up on big words
like 'disposition', which even professional philosophers can't
agree on.  Instead, use simple questions that direct attention
to answers stated in words that everybody can understand.    (010)

Unfortunately, finding simplicity is not a simple task.    (011)

John    (012)

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