XPost: comp.ai.nat-lang   
   From: eriknorvelle@hotmail.com   
      
   Greetings,   
      
   Here's my problem, and it's a doozy:  How can I evaluate   
   (computationally) the similarity between the following sentences:   
      
   1) The unexamined life is not worth living   
   2) Only the examined life is worth living   
   3) It's only worthwhile to live an examined life   
   4) A life that is not examined is not worthy of being lived   
      
   The reason I need to be able to evaluate this kind of "conceptual   
   equivalence" is that I am designing a study-aid program for   
   philosophy, which depends on students' being able to express "in their   
   own words" the concept that a philosopher has expressed in response to   
   a particular issue.  I'm trying to avoid multiple-choice type   
   interfaces, as well as strict memorization.   
      
   For instance, in response to the question "Why did Socrates practice   
   philosophy?", the student should be able to give any of the   
   above-cited answers and still be given credit.  I'd like to be able to   
   evaluate the "degree of closeness" between what the philosopher   
   actually said and what the student says, and give credit   
   appropriately.   
      
   Ideally, I'm looking for a toolkit that I can integrate into my own   
   programs; it doesn't matter if the maturity of the toolkit is poor.   
   The language can be anything that I can integrate with Java using the   
   JNI (i.e. C, C++, etc). In particular, I am looking for open-source   
   projects, or projects sponsored by public institutions, rather than   
   commercial tools.  However, I would appreciate  hearing about   
   commercial products if nothing else is available.   
      
   As a former linguistics student, I'm aware that I may be on a wild   
   goose chase, due to the difficulty of the subject matter.  I'm hoping   
   that progress has been made in this area since my last immersion in   
   this stuff (some 13-odd years ago).   
      
   I will certainly check this newsgroup for updates, but if you'd be so   
   kind, I'd also appreciate carbon-copies to my email address, which is   
   "erik at norvelle dot net"   
      
   Thanks very much,   
   Erik Norvelle   
   Master's Student/Philosophy   
   Universidad de Navarra   
   Pamplona, Espana   
      
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