# KEHOME/knowledge/TheoryContextSymposium/excx.txt
# 1999/5/7
# new syntac Sep/29/2002

#==================#
# context examples #
#==================#

Here are two simple examples to illustrate the specification of the
context which is necessary to determine the meaning of a statement.

1. Sue is a man.
In this example, the meanings of Sue and man are ambiguous, and must
be determined by the context.
1a. In every day conversation, Sue is a female person,
      and a man is a male person, so the statement is contradictory.
1b. In philosophical discussions, a man is a species of animal, so the
      statement simply means Sue is a person.
1c. In a popular Country-Western song, Sue is a male person.
For this example, a concept-hierarchy is a convenient way to
describe these 3 different contexts:

at view=every day conversation
context1 is begin hierarchy
animal
/    person
//        man
//        woman
///            Sue
end hierarchy context1

at view=philosophical discussion
context2 is begin hierarchy
animal
/    man
//        Sue
end hierarchy context2

at view=Country-Western song
context3 is begin hierarchy
animal
/    person
//        man
///            Sue
//        woman
end hierarchy context3

2. I'll phone you at 10 o'clock.
In this example, the time reference is ambiguous, and
must be resolved by the context.  Given that I live in
Pioneer, CA and that today is May 7, 1999, and I don't
call anyone after 9 pm, the meaning of the statement
can be expressed as

at space=California/Pioneer,time=today/10 am PDT {I do phone od you done}


Note that a general context is specified by space, time, view
where view denotes a group of propositions.