Re: problem with rif:iri definition in DTB

Michael Kifer wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 18 May 2009 16:44:00 +0100
> Axel Polleres <axel.polleres@deri.org> wrote:
> 
>> Michael Kifer wrote:
>>> (This came up in Stella's report on FLD, but the problem is in DTB.)
>>>
>>> There is a statement in DTB Sec 1.2.1:
>>>
>>> * rif:iri (http://www.w3.org/2007/rif#iri, ... ... ... A rif:iri
>>> constant must be interpreted as a reference to one and the same
>>> object regardless of the context in which that constant occurs.
>>>
>>> This last sentence is too informal. Worse, as far as I can see, it is
>>> incompatible with first-order semantics. Obviously, no constant can
>>> be interpreted by one and the same object in all possible worlds
>>> (semantic structures) unless you impose restrictions, like we did for
>>> data types. But I don't even think there is a reasonable set of
>>> restrictions that is agreeable to everyone.
>> Right, I don't remember when/why this was added, but I'd be fine to drop 
>> that last sentence. Would that do?
> 
> 
> Yes, let's drop it to avoid confusion.

Personally, I do not have a strong opinion on this, but I do recall the reason 
for the informal statement.  IRIs are not supposed to have an interpretation 
that is context dependent - they are supposed to be global identifiers.

There is probably a better way to communicate that than the sentence referenced 
in the spec, but something should still probably be said.  Just because IRIs can 
denote anything doesn't mean they can denote more than one thing.

So I wouldn't agree to dropping that unless it is replaced with something.

-Chris

-- 
Dr. Christopher A. Welty                    IBM Watson Research Center
+1.914.784.7055                             19 Skyline Dr.
cawelty@gmail.com                           Hawthorne, NY 10532
http://www.research.ibm.com/people/w/welty

Received on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 14:52:34 UTC