You're right that import statements should not be considered part of 
an ontology. I agree it's the imported axioms that are part of the 
ontology.  (01)
Kathy  (02)
At 7:02 PM -0600 2/11/07, Christopher Menzel wrote:
>On Feb 11, 2007, at 6:26 PM, Kathryn Blackmond Laskey wrote:
>> [John wrote:]
>>> Following is a better specification of an ontology.
>>>
>>> Vocabulary: {loopyLetter}
>>>
>>> Theory:
>>>
>>> Every loopyLetter is a letter in a circular envelope.
>>>
>>> No loopyLetter is delivered on a Tuesday.
>>>
>>> This would be a special-case ontology that uses terms that may
>>> be defined in other ontologies: letter, in, circular, envelope,
>>> deliver, Tuesday.
>> ...
>> Wouldn't you want to require your ontology to explicitly name the
>> ontologies from which it was drawing terms? Otherwise, we could have
>> any number of meanings assigned to the terms not defined in the
>> ontology, if there were multiple external ontologies that defined
>> them in conflicting ways.
>
>I take it that was implicit in John's last sentence there (though his 
>use of "may be defined" does hint that he's leaving it open in the 
>way your response suggests). But let's assume that in a complete 
>example John would have included some relevant URLs -- more exactly, 
>some "import" statements in which URLs are arguments -- that point to 
>ontologies that axiomatize "letter", "in", etc. Contrary to what it 
>seems you are suggesting here (forgive me if I'm wrong), I don't 
>believe it would be correct to think of those import statements as 
>part of John's ontology. An import statement is metadata; it is 
>simply a mechanism to support re-use on open networks, an efficient 
>alternative to writing down externally located axioms explicitly. It 
>is those externally located axioms themselves, not the statements by 
>which they are imported, that are part of John's ontology.
>
>Chris Menzel
>
>
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