¥Adding
richer formal ontologies does not reduce ambiguity of reference, but INCREASES
it, by providing for finer ontological distinctions.
¥
¥If all you
want to say about persons is that they have mailboxes and friends, then you can
treat ÔpersonÕ as a simple category. If however you want to reason about
peopleÕs lifestyles, travel plans, medical histories and legal
rights, then you may be obliged to distinguish finer categories of
personhood. If you wish to include persons in a comprehensive Ôupper-levelÕ ontology,
then more arcane questions about personhood and how it relates to
existence must be answered.
¥
¥The more
one is able to say and is obliged to reason about, the more possible distinctions
there are to be made: and as the knowledge increases in scope, the more
possibilities arise for making distinctions that were formerly impossible.