Re: SUO: Re: Conformance
Pat, Matthew, et al.,
I believe that Pat's concluding paragraph should be addressed,
and one way to start is to begin with at least two examples:
one that conforms to SUMO, and another that does not. Examples
are often the best means of forcing such airy discussions to get
down to earth and say something sensible:
> None of this discussion makes any sense at all. Lets get concrete and
> then maybe we can make some progress. Suppose I write some code and I
> want to know if it conforms to the SUO standard. How exactly do I set
> about trying to find out? Or, if I claim that it does, how would
> someone prove me wrong? What kind of thing would constitute
> nonconformance? Don't answer in 'ontological' terms, ie by talking
> about 'using a concept'; that isn't well-defined enough, since there
> is no way to even say what it means, in general, for a program to be
> 'using' a 'concept'.
I would also like to make some remarks about the following exchange:
> >MW: No, it is the axioms that define what the concepts mean, or at
> >least what rules/constraints need to be satisfied. You cannot separate
> >the strings from the axioms in which the strings occur.
>
PH> Well, I tend to agree, in abstract terms; but again, Adam's
> definition makes no reference to axioms. Maybe it should. However,
> nothing in KIF says anything about the relationship between axioms
> and rules/constraints. There is no KIF syntax for even stating rules
> or constraints.
My recommendation is to distinguish the content of some statement
from the way that content is intended to be used. I suggest the
term 'proposition' for the semantic content of a statement in KIF,
CGs, controlled English, or any other suitable notation. Then all
of the following terms can be defined as propositions that are
indended to be used in one way or another:
- An axiom is a proposition that is assumed to be true within
the scope of some theory.
- A constraint is a proposition that is used to constrain
something. The word "constraint" is often used in database
discussions in a way that is very close to the way that
mathematicians use the word "axiom".
- A rule is a proposition that contains an implication (if-then)
as its major Boolean connective.
- An assertion is a proposition that is asserted to be true in
the context under discussion.
KIF and related notations that are designed to express propositions
can also be used to express axioms, rules, constraints, and assertions.
If it is important to distinguish the intended use of a proposition,
that information can be stated in a comment (for human consumption)
or in some appropriate metalanguage (for computer use).
John Sowa