On Mar 26, 2009, at 6:53 AM, Phillip Lord wrote:
Oliver Ruebenacker <[email protected]> writes:
Besides, how do we know it's wrong? Two species can have the same
protein for different functions, right?
Depends how you define "same". This is the crux of the problem.
No, really, its not. Defining 'same' is trivial. A is the same as B
when there is one thing, called by both names 'A' and 'B'. Now I
realize this sounds circular (and trivial), but the key point is that
if you are using a logic-based language (such as OWL or RDF) _at all_,
then you must have some notion of what the things are that you are
talking about. You are using names (URI references , IRIs), and names
denote things. If you are using OWL, you are thinking about classes of
things. You must have some things in mind when you do this. Whatever
those things are, being the same means being the same one of those.
OK, I know that 'identity criteria' are often problematic (philosopher
talk) and that its easy to fall into use/mention confusions (such as
between database records and the things they describe) and generally,
getting the ontology right isn't always easy. But when this happens,
don't blame owl:sameAs. If you don't know what your ontology is
talking about, or you cannot even say in English what it is that you
want to say in Formaleze, your problems are much more fundamental and
much pressing than anything to do with sameAs, and they won't be
solved by making sameAs fuzzier or less rigorous, or whatever. This
is a symptom of a deeper malaise.
These formal languages require one to have a sharp and clear sense of
what it is that one is talking about, and to stick to it. For many
purposes (eg see OBO) this what they are for, to impose a kind of
global coherence on a body of discourse. Making them fuzzy and
contextual and un-"rigorous" would be like making banks use vague
arithmetic in order to solve the financial crisis. Sorry of this means
that your thinking is too vague to be OWL-ized just yet. Come back
when you get your thinking sorted out, and maybe we'll be in a
position to help you.
Pat
Phil
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