- From: Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
- Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:53:19 -0500
- To: "public-lod@w3.org" <public-lod@w3.org>, John Sowa <sowa@bestweb.net>
On 1/13/11 8:36 AM, John F. Sowa wrote: > Folks, John, Great comments. I've cc'd in the LOD community mailing list as these sentiments have some bearing on an ongoing conversation thread [1]. Links: 1. http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-lod/2011Jan/ Others: please read on.... > We have to make a clear distinction between ontology and the tools, > languages, logics, and reasoning methods used with any ontology. > The subject line of this thread could be very misleading. > > Ever since Aristotle, categories and hierarchies of categories > have been useful for ontology -- primarily because the study > of existence leads to a study of what kinds of things exist. > > A's syllogisms and his method of definition by genus and > differentiae have also been useful. But many people (starting > with Aristotle himself) have noted that prototypes rather > than strict definitions are better for some applications. > > In general, there is *no* specific logic or reasoning method > that is either essential or irrelevant to ontology. The > choice depends entirely on specific applications -- or even > on very narrow questions or problems about an application. > > Re rough sets: This is an important topic, but I would be > very cautious about any way of thinking that combines the > word 'ontology' with any particular reasoning method. > > That is in fact why I have been unhappy with the phrase > "Web Ontology Language" used as a scrambled acronym for OWL. > It suggests to many novices, that the word 'the' belongs in > front of that phrase -- but that idea is hopelessly misguided. > > Ontology is *orthogonal* to any and all versions of logic, > reasoning methods, and implementation tools. Any specific > language or tool tends to channel thinking into certain paths > that may be useful for some applications. But ways of thinking > that are specialized for one kind of application can often be > inappropriate or even misguided for other applications. > > John > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/ > Config Subscr: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/ > Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@ontolog.cim3.net > Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/ > Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ > To join: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J > To Post: mailto:ontolog-forum@ontolog.cim3.net > > -- Regards, Kingsley Idehen President& CEO OpenLink Software Web: http://www.openlinksw.com Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen
Received on Thursday, 13 January 2011 18:53:47 UTC