FROLIO – Formalizable Relationship-Oriented Language-Insensitive Ontology

Welcome to FROLIO – a new attempt to merge philosophy and the "semantic web". This website is continually under construction - please send suggestions for improvements to the author.

Relationship Major Category - "Distinguishing"

General Meaning

This is to do with relating two (usually) things, physical or conceptual, with a human (or an animal with adequate brain power) appreciating their difference – or similarity. It includes distinguishing things from a less structured, more chaotic or random background. This is often not a strictly reasoned process, but can be instinctive. In any case it requires the distinguisher or comparer to have experienced some prior sensation.

Category Icon

The icon represents two things (in roles A and B) being compared and maybe contrasted. The things could be abstract concepts, or physical things including humans. The C role represents the basis of similarity or difference. The things may include humans, tools and processes.

Relationship Role Diagram (for key to the letter codes click here)

The picture shows 3 types of things that could be compared and distinguished: concepts or ideas (top row left and right); things (second row left and right); tools (middle row left) and processes (middle row right). The role C implies the criteria or dimensions by which A and B are distinguished, or deemed to be alike. The P, T, X, Y and Z roles are as in other categories.

	A	C	B
A				A
A or B			A or B
P				Z
	T	X	Y

Relationship Types in this Category

Four sub-categories are recognized here, all being related to how A and B can be distinguished: observable attributes; space and time; instinct, feeling or logic; and identity.

Different in observable attributes, code “Da”:

distinguishes – from a random background (as role B)
is unlike, is like – in certain respects, defined by role C
is bigger than, is smaller than - a special, simplistic case of the above
is better than, is worse than - ditto -
is equal in value to - implies the need to state the attribute(s) in question, and possibly a tolerance “plus or minus”
is in contrast to
is evaluated in comparison with

Of course there can be many more special cases of difference, e.g. colour, hardness, temperature, curry heat, plasticity etc.

If the meaning is extended to the limiting case (e.g. the best, the worst), this implies that an scale can be defined, e.g. of “goodness” or “badness” etc.

Different in space and time, code “Ds”:

is geographically distant from - another special case of is unlike, where the two things are not at the same location
is chronologically different from - i.e. is before, is after - same again

Distinguishable by instinct, feeling or logic, code “Di”:

strikes one as different from - implies the need to further investigate the difference, and find out in what attributes the things differ
seems like - this implies the need to state in what way, or to justify the claim

Distinguishable (or indistinguishable) by identity, code “Dx”:

are one and the same – the things being compared aren’t just equal in value, they are the same concept or individual thing (may be difficult to prove)
could be one and the same thing - maybe all we can reliably say (e.g. if an identical twin is impersonating his/her other twin)

Examples

Attributes

The money I gave him is equal to what I owed. Honeydew melons are different from musk melons (e.g. in shape, taste). π (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter) is equal in value to 3.1415926 (to 7 decimal places). The security scanner distinguishes a sharp object in the passenger's luggage. The unmanned aeroplane distinguishes hot spots remaining after the bush fire.

Space and Time

Adelaide is geographically distant from Melbourne (it's 700 km to the WNW, or has 3 degrees less southern latitude and 5 degrees less easterly longitude). The English Black Death is chronologically different from The Great Plague of London (it happened 317 years earlier).

Instinct

Liberalism strikes me as different from conservatism. Naziism seems to most people like Fascism. Bubonic Plague differs from Yellow Fever in the organism causing it. My legs seem like jelly this morning.

Identity

This is the same car that I saw speeding away from the robbery. No person in the identity parade was the same person I saw breaking into the house. I said "Hi" to the guy in the street as I was sure he was the person I met on holiday.

Links to other Categories (these cross-links now fixed!)

Arrangement is in some order with	Classification is a	Distinguishing is different from	Interaction communicates with
Logic is deduction from	Motivation is motivated by	Partitioning is part of	Representation represents
Sensation is experienced by	Transformation is changed from	Utility is useful for	Volition is wanted by