Re: The world may fundamentally be inexplicable
IMHO, I agree with Azamat and Brandon.
Instead of allowing of "plugging in" or even "embracing"
all possible (often contradictory to each other)
theories, driven by the pragmatic goal of "neutrality",
the efforts need to be dedicated to attempts of creating ultimate unified ontology via "iterative approximation", starting with very crude model and then trying to refine it step by step.
Of course all participants need to agree on some basic principles,
on which such ultimate unified ontology will rest upon.
There should also be agreement on the methods of "empirical proof",
applicable for justification of each step refinement.
If there is no consensus on the basic principles (and/or) methods of
proof - then it is better (IMHO) for participants to divide themselves into groups with the same views and let each such group develop its version. Let such different versions compete and the best will eventually win.
Thanks,
Best Regards,
Alex
-- Brandon Bennett <brandon@comp.leeds.ac.uk> wrote:
On Wed, 2006-01-04 at 13:38 -0500, John F. Sowa wrote:
> Summary: Forget the elusive search for an ultimate unified
> ontology because (a) it might not exist, (b) even if it
> did exist, it's not likely to be found for at least another
> century or so,
Well it certainly won't be found if nobody even wants to look
for it.
Just because something is very difficult doesn't mean it is not
worth trying.
Happy New Year
Brandon
--
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Dr Brandon Bennett
Division of Artificial Intelligence Tel.: +44 (0)113 343 1070
School of Computing (room 9.16) (home) +44 (0)113 274 6920
University of Leeds Fax.: +44 (0)113 343 5468
Leeds LS2 9JT E-mail: brandon@comp.leeds.ac.uk
United Kingdom WWW: http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/brandon/
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