SUO: metaclasses versus classes
Matthew,
Thanks for your comment. This is not directly
related to the CYC Substance problem, so I will
use a different thread name.
West, Matthew R SITI-ITPSIE wrote:
> Dear Pat,
>
> I might point out that EPISTLE makes extensive use of what
> you call meta classes. (Just classes of classes).
>
> This was based on pragmatic utility and necessity.
>
> I could not imagine how we could achieve the same capability
> without them. (e.g. strictly you can't have numbers).
>
I noticed from a brief look at Epistle that there
was even more use of metaclasses there than in CYC.
I thought I might get a note from you on this. ;-)
There are even metaclasses of metaclasses, it
appears.
But Epistle also has corresponding classes,
as best I can tell.
It wasn't evident to me what function the
metaclasses in Epistle serve. Perhaps if you
could provide us an explanation of what you
do with metaclasses that you think cannot be done
as well directly on classes, it will be
enlightening. (I see "number" classes in most
ontologies.) It seems to me that Epistle
uses metaclasses more than any other ontology I have
seen, so you should have a unique perspective.
Pat
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