On Apr 7, 2009, at 8:33 AM, Richard H. McCullough wrote:  (01)
> <John Sowa>
> But we have consistently complained about the vagueness of
> what you call "context".
>
> <Dick McCullough>
> Here's a thought experiment to explain the nature of "context".
>
> from <www-rdf-interest@xxxxxx> 15 December 2002
> begin QUOTE
> Here's my most fundamental view of context.
> Imagine that I decide to record all my knowledge in a diary.
> Every day, I write propositions in my diary, numbering them 1, 2, ....  (02) 
Actually, you can't do this. What you write in your diary will be 
sentences, not propositions. Sentences are simply marks, arrangements 
of symbols. They express propositions by virtue of the language in 
which the sentences are written having a semantics: this semantics - 
the meaning, if you like - is what makes sentences express 
propositions. Now, if you claim to be writing (sentences which 
express) propositions, then you are presuming that the language you 
are writing in already has a semantics. Which is fair enough if you 
are writing in English for competent English readers, say (though, as 
we all know, fraught with problems of mutual misunderstanding, even 
when you are writing notes to be read by yourself in the future.) But 
as you are writing in a new language of your own invention, with a 
grammar quite different from that of English, then until you tell us 
how your notation maps sentences to propositions - until you give us a 
semantics for your notation - we can't begin to know what these 
propositions, that you claim to be writing, actually are.  (03)
> Today, I record proposition 123456789; the context of proposition
> 123456789 is the list of propositions from 1 to 123456788.
> It's that simple!  (04) 
So now (and ignoring the above point for the moment) what exactly do 
the propositions with numbers less than N have to do with proposition 
number N? In what WAYS do these 'contexts' have any influence over the 
meanings of these propositions? (Because I presume they must, or else 
why do you call them 'contexts'?) You need to spell some of this out, 
and then it will not be quite so simple, I predict.  (05)
>
> My KR language and KE program is my way of
> recording, organizing & using a large list of propositions.  (06) 
Recording, yes (modulo the basic point about semantics); organizing, 
hardly; using: not at all. You never say how your contexts are USED.  (07)
> end QUOTE
>
> Going from thought experiment back to real life,
> my "context" is the entire contents of my brain.  (08) 
Nobody, even you, knows what this is. And in any case, it's not 
enough: your brain doesn't tell ME what YOU mean by "I" or "now".  (09)
Pat  (010)
>
> To make practical use of this "context" in any particular case,
> I can select only those propositions which are relevant to
> the particular case, and I can use genus-differentia definitions
> to summarize the results of many propositions.
>
> Dick McCullough
> http://mkrmke.org
>
>
>
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