What is the issue

At 16:33 01/10/03 -0500, pat hayes wrote:
>>I would like to propose the following solution to this
>>issue.
>
>What issue, exactly? Im not aware of any problem that needs to be solved here.

I was minded to make a similar comment, but wasn't sure that would be helpful.

This exchange did prompt me to go back and re-read the text from TAG issue 39:
[[
TBL: "The community needs:

    1. A concise statement of the above architectural elements from 
different specs in one place, written in terms which the ontology community 
will understand, with pointers to the relevant specifications.
    2. Some outline guidance on specific questions brought up in email 
questions, including:
           * Is a given inference engine expected to take into account a 
given document under given circumstances?
           * how does one avoid having to commit to things one does not trust?
    3. There may be some need to clarify frequent misunderstandings by 
making some things clear."
]]
-- http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/ilist#rdfURIMeaning-39

It seems to me that the goal of this group should not be to come up with 
yet another formal mechanisms that partially solves some aspect of the problem.

Rather, I perceive that, at some point, useful RDF and RDF applications 
deal with knowledge that is not entirely expressed in the form of logical 
truths or truth claims.  I feel that articulating the relationship between 
the role of formal logic and social knowledge would be a major step toward 
mapping the territory, and understanding more clearly the aspects that may 
usefully benefit from further formalism.  I further feel that actually 
designing such further formalisms is not a role for this group.

In summary:  can we articulate (and agree) on the relationship between 
formal logic and social aspects of meaning?

#g


------------
Graham Klyne
GK@NineByNine.org

Received on Thursday, 2 October 2003 06:04:23 UTC