Talk:EnvO Project

From Genomic Standards Consortium

[edit] Comments from Brandon Bennett

The definition of environment seems a little too general in including all circumstances external to a definable entity. I suggest that the environment of an entity should be limited to include only those circumstances that have some effect on that entity.

The question arises as to whether environment should be treated as a relational concept, as is implied by this definition. That is, one should perhaps consider the semantics of environment to primarily determined by the meaning of the relation:

e is the environment of x

However, environments are often refered to independently of any particular entity which inhabits the environment. And this supports the view that an environment is itself concieved of as an entity in its own right, albeit one of a somewhat subtle kind.

To be continued.