RE: Does rdfs:superClassOf (or equivalent) exist?

Hi 

The current RDFS spec does not mention superClassOf.  Only subClassOf is defined.

See https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf11-schema/


Very respectfully,
 -Mark 

-----Original Message-----
From: Harshvardhan J. Pandit <me@harshp.com> 
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2023 8:22 AM
To: semantic-web@w3.org
Subject: Does rdfs:superClassOf (or equivalent) exist?

Hi.
We have rdfs:subClassOf defined in a standardised specification (RDFS).
RDFS several times mentions 'superclass', but AFAIK there is no property or relation to make this explicit, i.e.

```turtle
:A rdfs:subClassOf :B . # exists
:B rdfs:superClassOf :A . # does this exist anywhere?
```

I can intuit why subclass relations are the most common and preferred methods of use - because anyone can extend the superclass from anywhere. 
And that either assertion can be inferred from the other (sub to super, vice-versa), but I also think having the superclass be 'aware' of subclasses is a good practice in maintaining ontologies e.g. to get a list of all subclasses which would normally require a query each time.

(Likewise for rdfs:subPropertyOf and rdfs:superPropertyOf)

Apologies in advance if this has already been answered somewhere (I would appreciate it if you point me to it).

Regards,
--
---
Harshvardhan J. Pandit, Ph.D
Assistant Professor
ADAPT Centre, Dublin City University
https://harshp.com/

Received on Monday, 30 October 2023 14:21:00 UTC