- From: Adrian Walker <adrianw@snet.net>
- Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 20:46:32 -0500
- To: Asankhaya Sharma <asankhaya@yahoo.com>
- Cc: semantic-web@w3.org, phismith@buffalo.edu
Hi All --
At 11:39 AM 1/12/2006 -0800, Asankhaya Sharma wrote:
>it's impossible to express the thoughts unless we share the common language.
The playwright Tom Stoppard has an entertaining take on this. He
has short play, based loosely on Wittgenstein and "language as
use". During the play, the audience learns an entirely new semantics of
English by observing the action on stage.
That may not sound like comedy, until you hear that, in the new semantics,
you can insult someone by calling them "bicycle!". A mortal insult is
"tricycle!".
While this aspect of language may sound a bit trivial, it could also have
rather deep implications for writing and using ontologies. The US National
Center for Ontological Research is part rooted in the philosophy department
at SUNYAB -- perhaps Professor Barry Smith would care to comment?
-- Adrian
INTERNET BUSINESS LOGIC (R)
Online at www.reengineeringllc.com
Shared, community use is free
Adrian Walker
Reengineering
PO Box 1412
Bristol
CT 06011-1412 USA
Phone: USA 860 583 9677
Cell: USA 860 830 2085
Fax: USA 860 314 1029
Received on Friday, 13 January 2006 01:46:54 UTC