[topicmapmail] Re: Consistency and Formal Model

[Piotr Kaminski]

Bernard Vatant wrote:
> It seems conform to all current rules
> of knowledge representation that individual objects
> and universal classes (types) are
> separate generic types.

I think you're saying that instances cannot be classes and vice-versa,
though I'm not sure what a "generic type" is.  This claim always seems to
be used to justify a layered (or stratified) metamodel (e.g. [1]).  I
never understood why it's so "obvious", though:  to me, it's obvious that
every class *is* an instance.

Could you please provide some references that explain why layering is a
desirable metamodel feature?  (Your paper didn't seem to list any.)
Thanks in advance.

        -- P.

[1] Jeff Pan, Ian Horrocks:  Metamodeling Architecture of Web Ontology
Languages, 2001.

--
  Piotr Kaminski <piotr@ideanest.com>  http://www.ideanest.com/
  "It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance."