Thread Links Date Links
Thread Prev Thread Next Thread Index Date Prev Date Next Date Index

Re: SUO: Re: Knowing that something is a class




> On the problems of class being a class, and so on, and the apparent 
> need for the circularity at the top.
> 
> This is closely connected with a rather tricky technical issue in the 
> semantics of the new KIF, which arises from the fact that it is legal 
> (in the new KIF) to say that a predicate is true of itself. We argued 
> about this for a while, but it seems clear that the language can be 
> given a uniform, consistent semantics which allow unlimited 
> self-application of classes, predicates, relations or sorts. The 
> basic technique for doing this was provided by Chris Menzel. 
> Hopefully we will have this written up fairly soon; but in the 
> meantime, relax. It is OK to say that a class is a subclass of itself.

Pat means "member of itself" rather than "subclass of itself" here, of
course.  Not that what he actually wrote is *false*, just uninteresting!

-chris

--

Christopher Menzel               # web: philebus.tamu.edu/~cmenzel
Philosophy, Texas A&M University # net:      chris.menzel@tamu.edu 
College Station, TX  77843-4237  # vox:             (979) 845-8764