Meta-statements

Do meta-statements (statements whose subject is another statement) 
qualify a statement, or qualify its truth?

That is, if I have a statement S1 = <P1, dc:creator, Bob>, and another 
statement S2 = <S1, dc:date, 26-Sep-2004>, am I stating that "P1 was 
created on the 26th by Bob", or am I stating that "on the 26th, it was 
asserted that Bob created P1"?

Another way of looking at this is: do meta-statements refine 
statements, and hence potentially lead to a contradiction -- for 
instance, adding statement S3 = <S1, dc:date, 24-Sep-2004> would be an 
implicit nonsense --- or do they combine to enable trust systems --- 
for instance, adding statement S3 = <S1, dc:author, Jim> would make the 
whole system state "this assertion was made by Jim, and has been 
independently verified on the 26th"?

Does it depend on the predicate involved?

Cheers,
Chris

Received on Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:38:50 UTC