Dan Russler wrote:
Actually, this list might be too long!
Many of these break down on utility, at least on "easy to define and
decide."
Definitions for these discriminants are easy to find,
in the same way one finds ontologies at levels 1, 2...
I have adapted (and I recommend) those of John Sowa.
http://www.jfsowa.com/ontology/toplevel.htm
Deciding is something that needs to be done for each
term in each ontology, by its publisher. If it does
not happen explicitly, concepts get conflated, which
becomes a huge source of confusion later for others.
Declaring which discriminants apply to each term must
become part of the minimum level of documentation that
SW deems acceptable for published ontologies.
Without it, ontology concepts will stay undefined along
at least one fundamental semantic dimension. That lets
people (mis)use them, so they inevitably will, which is
exactly counter to *the* core goal for any ontology.
Hard or easy, the utility gained fully merits its costs.
best regards,
Dan Corwin
Kashyap, Vipul wrote:
Physical vrs Informational
Natural vrs Artificial
Real vrs Imaginary
Composite vrs Characteristic
Individual vrs Collective
Atomic vrs Mediating
Specific vrs Indefinite
Continuant vrs Occurrent
Not many discriminants can be found which are simultaneously
orthogonal (independent of one another) and general (can be applied to
anything) and useful (easy to clearly define and decide). The
listing above may in fact be nearly complete (although many would
debate its specifics or suggest other candidates).
Regardless of the particulars, I suggest that a better /semantic/
model for your "layer 0" would be all and only those discriminants
which have all three qualities - independence, generality, and utility
- and hence can be employed to help define any class or instance desired.
[VK] Thanks, Dan! This is a very good guideline and framework to work
from.
Cheers,
---Vipul
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