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RE: [ontac-dev] Type vs. Class -- Please vote

To: "ONTAC Taxonomy-Ontology Development Discussion" <ontac-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "West, Matthew R SIPC-DFD/321" <matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 21:07:20 -0000
Message-id: <A94B3B171A49A4448F0CEEB458AA661F02CE51E1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Dear Barry,    (01)

See below    (02)


Regards    (03)

Matthew West
Reference Data Architecture and Standards Manager
Shell International Petroleum Company Limited
Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom    (04)

Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Mobile: +44 7796 336538
Email: matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.shell.com
http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/    (05)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ontac-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:ontac-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Smith, Barry
> Sent: 21 January 2006 20:10
> To: ONTAC Taxonomy-Ontology Development Discussion
> Subject: RE: [ontac-dev] Type vs. Class -- Please vote
> 
> 
> 
> >MW: From where I sit a class/set/type/category
> >(the longer the concatenation the quicker people will want 
> to pick one
> >and the less they will care which) has a number of instances 
> and a number
> >of axioms, and there is no need for two objects (e.g. class 
> and type) any
> >more than a person needs to be two objects because it has 
> arms and legs.
> 
> A type has a number of instances which together form a class.
> A football team has a number of members which together form a set.
> The set can change, as members join and leave, but the football team 
> remains identical.
> Thus the set and the team are not identical.    (06)

MW: This does not compute for me. I see a team as an individual, whose
parts (members) may change over time. At any point in time you can identify a
(possibly different) class (with unchanging membership) that are the 
members that are part of that team at that time (but I wouldn't generally
find these interesting).    (07)

MW: It looks to me as if you are introducing unnecessary complexity. It
also seems to me that this example does not address my point.
> 
> 
> >MW: I accept of course that there is the trivial restriction class of
> >"instances of X" which can be derived from the instance_of 
> relation, but
> >that is entirely redundant as far as I can see.
> >
> >MW: Please explain my error.
> 
> See above. And generalize to, say, the species rabbit.    (08)

MW: I see the set of all the rabbits for all time, the sets of all rabbits
for points or periods in time, and if you want, the aggregate of their
spatio-temporal extents (but these are not I think so interesting in this case).
All have unchanging membership/parts.    (09)

> BS 
> 
> 
>  
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ordinatingWG    (010)



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