Re: Using third-party vocabularies

At 10:18 AM 12/4/02 -0600, pat hayes wrote:
>>[[
>>In publishing a statement with potentially significant legal or social 
>>consequences, one should take care to use vocabulary whose meaning is 
>>well-defined, stable and known to correspond to the intended 
>>meaning.  For important documents, such as contracts, this may mean that 
>>use of third-party vocabulary is restricted to terms defined by 
>>legislature, recognized standards bodies or other reputable 
>>organizations.  Using terms from untrustworthy sources may have 
>>unintended consequences.
>>]]


>Yes, I like the above. But I think that the general principle goes beyond 
>just the 'significant' legal cases: it applies everywhere.

Ah, I see your point.  This suggests a slight rearrangement;  the general 
case, leading in to the 'significant' concerns:

[[
When making statements that use terms defined by a third party, one should 
take care that the third party definition is consistent with ones intended 
meaning, or the statements may have unintended consequences.

In particular, when publishing a statement with potentially significant 
legal or social consequences, use only vocabulary whose meaning is 
well-defined, stable and known to correspond to the intended 
commitment.  For important documents, such as contracts, this may mean that 
use of third-party vocabulary is restricted to terms defined by 
legislature, recognized standards bodies or other reputable organizations, 
or that otherwise have socially well-established meanings.
]]

#g


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

Received on Wednesday, 4 December 2002 12:05:23 UTC