Re: Thing and Class

Thanks for your example, James.

Here is the RDF translation of your statements.
    JamesLeigh  type  Human
    JamesLeigh  type  Thing
    Human  subClassOf  Thing
    Human  type  Class
    Thing  type  Class
In addition, the RDF specs say (somewhere) that
    Class  subClassOf  Class
    Class  type  Class

Putting these all together in a "hierarchy outline"
<pre>
    Thing
    /    i:JamesLeigh
    /    Human
    //        i:JamesLeigh
    /    Class
    //        i:Thing
    //        i:Human
    //        i:Class
    //        Class
</pre>

So now I ask myself:
are Thing and i:Thing the same?
are Human and i:Human the same?
are Class and i:Class the same?

If these things are all the same,
then the hierarchy has loops.

Does this seem right to you?

Dick McCullough
Ayn Rand do speak od mKR done;
mKE do enhance od Real Intelligence done;
knowledge := man do identify od existent done;
knowledge haspart proposition list;
http://mKRmKE.org/

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Leigh" <james-nospam@leighnet.ca>
To: "Richard H. McCullough" <rhm@pioneerca.com>
Cc: "Semantic Web at W3C" <semantic-web@w3.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 6:30 PM
Subject: Re: Thing and Class


> Hi Richard et al.
> 
> Here is an informal interpretation of some of the spec written in plain
> English.
> 
> Class stands for classification.
> We use Class to classify things.
> Class is a set of Things.
> "I am a Human" - I just classified myself as Human (I hope I'm right).
> "I am a Thing" - that is true for everything.
> Human is a classification of all people.
> Thing is a classification of all things.
> Every Human is a Thing. Therefore Thing is a super set of Human.
> Is Human a Thing? No! its a Class!
> Everything Thing is an individual.
> Human is not an individual, it is a classification of individuals.
> Thing is not an individual, it is a classification of individuals.
> Can we classify Classes? Yes we can! Human is a classification - I just
> classified Human as a classification.
> Human is a Class.
> Thing is a Class.
> Are all Things Classes? No! I am a Thing, but I am not a classification.
> Is Thing the same as Class? No! Human is not a Thing, but Human is a
> Class.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> James
> 
> 
> 
>