Re: SUO: Multi-Source Ontology (MSO) Draft Ballot Question
John F. Sowa wrote:
> Adam, Murray, and Bill,
>
> The distinction of logic-based vs. language-based
> is meaningless because first-order logic is a
> subset of every natural language. [...]
John,
Before we begin to discuss the rest of these issues, you
have to understand that there are some of us who simply
don't believe all of your underlying assumptions, no matter
how many times they're repeated. To me, forinstance, the
above statement (taken at face value) is impossible. I've
been having this discussion with Pat and a few others over
the past few months, trying to understand various points of
view, and while I understand that FOL is a language, a very
useful language, the idea that *natural* language is somehow
a subset of FOL requires a belief system so extensive and
profoundly different from mine as to be be virtually incon-
ceivable, such as requirement that we all share a common
language (even past language boundaries), and interpretation
of that language, in all contexts. I know you've written on
this subject extensively, but this is *my* opinion. You have
yours. It's allowed that we disagree in my book.
That doesn't stop us from trying to work together towards
a common good, but you can't expect or demand that everyone
involved share a common epistemology. This isn't church.
> All the arguments that Adam has presented are very
> strong reasons for us to *collaborate* on building
> a very good, solid, broad coverage system rather
> than a bunch of half-vast competing projects.
I strongly agree.
Murray
......................................................................
Murray Altheim http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK .
"Iraqi sovereignty will be established by appointees
appointing appointees to select appointees to select
appointees. Add the fact that Bremer was appointed to
his post by President Bush and Bush to his by the US
Supreme Court, and you have the glorious new democratic
tradition of the appointocracy: rule by an appointee's
appointee's appointees' appointees' appointees' selectees."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1130138,00.html