> Kate writes: > > He has said that his concern is ontological. An ontology is-the formal > representations within a domain and the relationships within the domain. I > would > suggest that cheerskep is insisting on defining the individuals of the > domain > before the domain itself has been tentatively defined. He might claim he is > doing this because many of the individuals have different meanings to > different > people and he wants to make sure which one is meant-he is in some other > larger domain using the same individuals,hovering over a vast blurry > field,unable to believe that his companions might only require common sense > to be > understood.. This requirement of defining meaning is functioning as an > evasion > of establishing the domain-evading the question in fact,in a fuzzy cloud of > only wanting to establish clear terms for our own sake. > Kate Sullivan > Ah, such skepticism in one so young!
I'm not bent on "establishing clear terms for their own sake". I want to clarify to the extent possible the notions behind a speaker's key words for this reason: If they are fatally ambiguous, then all discussion of the alleged topic will be fruitless. I maintain you're wrong to think everyone gets your notion when you write "understanding a thing". And I even go on to the impertinent suggestion that you don't have clear notion to begin with -- but we can't be sure until you describe what it is you have in mind. "Common sense" will not lead a reader conjure the notion you have in mind. I used no more than common sense to come up immediately with four different interpretations of "understanding" -- and I guarantee I could up with several more easily. The following description you provide of your notion behind the word 'ontology' is basically defective because it assumes as "given" many of the very elements that someone like me would reject: "An ontology is-the formal representations within a domain and the relationships within the domain. I would suggest that cheerskep is insisting on defining the individuals of the domain before the domain itself has been tentatively defined." Feh! Feh, I tell you! ************** Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020)
