Hi Pat, (01)
> I think that we cannot assume that just because someone has been
> exposed to arguments about the importance of upper ontologies, s/he
> will have understood the point. Even worse, we cannot assume that
> someone who has access to, or been pointed to, discussions of the
> need for upper ontologies has even read such discussions, let alone
> understood them. The issues are apparently complex enough that they
> need to be phrased as simply and succinctly as possible, and be
> accompanied by pointers to examples illustrating how UOs can benefit
> users. (02)
good points, clearly important and true. Sigh. (03)
> The answer, of course, is that having more than one upper-level
> ontology makes accurate and automated semantic interoperability
> impossible (or in the more cautious words of the joint communiqué
> draft): (04)
Yes, this will need to be more cautious (or rather, more
precise)... I suspect it will
be a question of definitions in the end, as we have already
skirted around in discussions and in wordings. That can be
part of the technical discussion though. (05)
[Nicola]
> and is definitely against common UO. Explaining him the role of
> axiomatic ontologies is probably more important than convincing him
> on the utility of a common ontology.... (06)
I think this supports comments I made, and John Sowa too I think,
about the kind of (justified) skepticism that is going to be
run into as soon as 'upper ontology' is understood as a singleton
set of a single grand theory. I stand by that as being more
closely related to religious discourse than I am confortable with! (07)
Best,
John B. (08)
P.S. (09)
do you have the original source of the following? I
have tried to find a documentable source a few times and
gave up... (010)
> This recalls Einstein's dictum: "A theory should be made as simple
> as possible, but no simpler. " (011)
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