SUO: Re: Lifecycle Integration Schema -- Matthew West
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LIS. Discussion Note 88
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Da Capo --
Focusing on the LIS concept of <thing>, whose extension,
as always, relative to a suitable context of discussion,
partitions into the LIS <things> that fall under the two
LIS concepts <abstract_object> and <possible_individual>.
For convenience, I will use the abbreviations <AO> and <PI>,
respectively, for <abstract_object> and <possible_individual>.
The LIS criterion for distinguishing AO's from PI's, in other words,
for testing whether a given <thing> x in the universe of discourse X
is an AO or a PI, is the respective inexistence or existence of the
<thing> x in space-time.
Discussion suggests that the informal concept "space-time" is intended
to be formalized as a prospective LIS concept <space-time> that bears
the critical connotation or normative meaning of "possible space-time".
In prospect of arriving at the relevant conceptions and distinctions,
I will introduce the abbreviations <IPST> and <EPST> for inexistence
versus existence in <possible_space-time>.
I suggest that the concept "possible space-time" requires a bit
more clarification before it can be treated as a formal concept.
Understatement of Twenty-Fourth Century.
In particular, for the practical purposes of implementing
the test <AO|PI> in computable logical form we need to ask
whether the test <IPST|EPST> is easier than or harder than
the test <AO|PI> that we started with. Success in computer
formulation will depend on reducing the complexity of the
initial question to something that is decidable on more
primitive grounds than we started from from the top.
Jon Awbrey
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Thing
| A <thing> is anything that is or may be thought about or perceived,
| including material and non-material objects, ideas, and actions.
|
| Every <thing> is either
| a <possible_individual>,
| or an <abstract_object>.
|
| NOTE 1. Every <thing> is identifiable within a system.
| System identifiers created by other systems and
| received as part of a data exchange may be stored
| for future reference as an identification, referring
| to the originating organisation or system.
|
| NOTE 2. Every example provided for other entity data types
| declared in this schema is also an example of <thing>.
|
| http://www.tc184-sc4.org/wg3ndocs/wg3n1328/lifecycle_integration_schema/lexical/thing.html
Abstract_Object
| An <abstract_object> is a <thing> that does not exist in space-time.
|
| EXPRESS specification:
|
| ENTITY abstract_object
|
| ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE
|
| SUBTYPE OF (thing);
|
| END_ENTITY;
|
| http://www.tc184-sc4.org/wg3ndocs/wg3n1328/lifecycle_integration_schema/lexical/abstract_object.html
Possible_Individual
| A <possible_individual> is a <thing> that exists in space and time.
|
| This includes:
|
| - things where any of the space time dimensions are vanishingly small,
| - those that are either all space for any time, or all time and any space,
| - the entirety of all space time,
| - things that actually exist, or have existed,
| - things that are fictional or conjectured and possibly exist
| in the past, present or future,
| - temporal parts (states) of other individuals,
| - things that have a specific position, but zero extent in
| one or more dimensions, such as points, lines, and surfaces.
|
| In this context existence is based upon being imaginable within
| some consistent logic, including actual, hypothetical, planned,
| expected, or required individuals.
|
| EXAMPLE. The pump with serial number ABC123, Battersea Power Station,
| Sir Joseph Whitworth, Shakespeare, and the starship "Enterprise"
| can be represented by instances of <possible_individual>.
|
| EXPRESS specification:
|
| ENTITY possible_individual
|
| SUBTYPE OF (thing);
|
| END_ENTITY;
|
| http://www.tc184-sc4.org/wg3ndocs/wg3n1328/lifecycle_integration_schema/lexical/possible_individual.html
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