• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: many-to-many
• From: Joe English <jenglish@f...>
• Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 12:40:51 -0800
• In-reply-to: <r01050400-1023-581C43602F0611D78F1A0003937A08C2@[192.168.124.11]>
• References: <r01050400-1023-581C43602F0611D78F1A0003937A08C2@[192.168.124.11]>

Simon St.Laurent wrote:

> Bill de hÓra posted something on www-tag that's very much worth
> contemplating, even if you don't like it.
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-tag/2003Jan/0301.html
> The juicy bit is:
>
[ Inserting the bit immediately prior to that: -JE ]
|
| I would like to TAG to advise on
| the structural relationship between URIs and what it is they
| identify, namely the Resources (hereafter 'things').
> >
> >I offer an opinion. The relationship between URIs and things is many
> >to many. One URI will be used to denote many things. A thing will be
> >denoted by many URIs.


I'll offer a counteropinion:

There is no such thing as a "Resource".

URIs don't Identify anything on their own.
Other technologies (RDF, XMLNS, HTTP, etc.)
*use* URIs to Identify things.  The nature of
the thing Identified depends on who's doing
the Identification.

If we dispose of the inconvenient fiction 
of a "Resource", most of the metaphysical hooey 
surrounding URIs goes away.


--Joe English

  jenglish@f...

• Follow-Ups:
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    • From: Miles Sabin <miles@m...>
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    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>

• References:
  • many-to-many
    • From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>

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