Re: reification test case

From: Dan Brickley <danbri@w3.org>

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-rdfcore-wg/2002Feb/0063.html

>compare this to a 'description of' a Book, or a person, or any other type
>of thing whose instances might be described using bNodes in an RDF graph.
>In each such case the properties we attach to the bNode correspond to
>properties of the specific individual thing (some book, some person, some
>triple...) described.

A copy of a book or a clone of a person might be a better example.  Both of
those would require individual descriptions  for each copy or clone.  The me
that stayed at UCLA was not the me that went to San Francisco.

>Could you give me an example where we have two bNodes describing
>one-and-the-same Person and there are properties on one bNode that
>wouldn't be appropriately attachable to the other bNode.

[ a Person; properName "Seth Russell"; during  1998; preferedEmail
"sethR@clickshop.com"]
[ a Person; properName "Seth Russell"; during  2002; preferedEmail
"seth@robustai.net"]

>Or is there someone special about describing triples that makes
>it importantly different from describing people or books?

A triple is an abstract thing like a proposition  - it exists (if it exists
at all) in some kind of Platonic Set as a unique member of that set.  As
such there is only three things that could ever describe it:  S, P, and O
... there can be nothing added.  But there are many places in the world
where this proposition rears its ugly head and each of those has a different
description that could be appended to the original proposition.  An  ideal
person or ideal book could be considered on par with a proposition;  but any
real book or real person or stating of a proposition exist in time and space
and each has its own history and description.

But I suspect that is nothing new to you  .. what's your real objection to
multiple nodes describing statings of triples?

Seth Russell

Received on Monday, 4 February 2002 20:02:39 UTC