SBVR11 — Actuality demonstrates Proposition

SBVR says (in clause 8.6.2, as of ballot RTF 1 ballot 5) that "Each proposition corresponds to exactly one state of affairs." For example, the proposition "each driver of a rental is qualified" (as may be embedded within an obligation statement) corresponds to a single state of affairs in which all drivers of a rental are qualified. Per clause 8.1.2, such a proposition is true or is false according to whether the corresponding state of affairs is actual.

This idea is meaningful to logicians but not to business people. Business users of SBVR will not care about a state of affairs in which "all drivers of a rental are qualified". What is meaningful to business users is the actualities that comprise that state of affairs – in this case, whether each driver, taken individually, is qualified. If the overall proposition is false, an immediate question will be, "which driver is not qualified, and why not?"

To support this kind of analysis, SBVR should have a verb concept that relates a proposition to the actualities that make the proposition true or false. The relationship already exists indirectly through the "state of affairs1 includes state of affairs2" verb concept introduced by the disposition of issue 16526. The current issue proposes a direct relationship, built on and consistent with "state of affairs1 includes state of affairs2", that avoids the need for business users to understand the logician's idea of "proposition corresponds to state of affairs".

see pages 27 - 28 of dtc/2013-07-01