Methodology for the Development of MSTT

Yet, we wish to avoid an over-formalization of the semantic structures we create. The meaning of a term will be partially formal, determined by the network of semantic relations to which it belongs; and partially informal, determined by the personal interpretation of the user who reads the exposition, and who tries to understand the concept by making associations with the context. Such a format allows the adequate representation of precise, mathematical concepts, of vague, ambiguous, "literary" development, and of the whole continuum in between. The degree of "formality" can be used to measure the position of a text on that continuum.

Vague or ambiguous concepts can be incrementally refined and clarified through the process of progressive formalization. Formalization may go in rounds, or levels, becoming more intensive and extensive. In keeping with this strategy, nodes we are writing will be initially organized according to the usual notion of their conceptual dependency understood informally or semi-formally. As the collection of nodes grows, we give more time to the work on formal semantics and the structuring of this accumulated material.

Both semantic networks and progressive formalization avoid starting from a fixed set of primitives or foundational concepts. Instead, we use part of the concepts to clarify other concepts, and vice versa. Thus, by allowing multiple beginnings to exist in parallel we avoid the shortcomings of foundationalism. The resulting system can be read or understood in different orders, for example starting from "meaning" as a primitive concept to develop the concept of evolution, or starting from evolution to analyse the evolution of meaning.