Reification (knowledge representation)
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Reification in knowledge representation is the process of turning a predicate into an object.[1] Reification involves the representation of factual assertions that are referred to by other assertions, which might then be manipulated in some way; e.g., comparing logical assertions from different witnesses in order to determine their credibility.
The message "John is six feet tall" is an assertion involving truth that commits the speaker to its factuality, whereas the reified statement "Mary reports that John is six feet tall" defers such commitment to Mary. In this way, the statements can be incompatible without creating contradictions in reasoning. For example, the statements "John is six feet tall" and "John is five feet tall" are mutually exclusive (and thus incompatible), but the statements "Mary reports that John is six feet tall" and "Paul reports that John is five feet tall" are not incompatible, as they are both governed by a conclusive rationale that either Mary or Paul is (or both are), in fact, incorrect.
See also
References
- ^ Hunt, Matthew (1996). "Notes on Semantic Nets and Frames" (PDF). Retrieved 15 June 2016.