Formal ontology

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Formal ontology refers to projects ontological theory building which largely make use of formal instruments as they have been developed in the last decades in analytical ontology according to the so-called "ontological turn". Similar to how formal logic does not study concrete contents, but rather logical relationships in general, formal ontology describes general properties, relationships, identification and identity criteria of objects in general. In part, our judgments about the structures of reality form the starting point of the investigation.

For the practical application of knowledge representation of some projects of formal ontology cf. Ontology (computer science) .

Concept history

Edmund Husserl first used the term formal ontology . According to him, pure logic (i.e. that which is logically preceded by applications to concrete facts) can be divided into apophantic logic and a formal ontology . The former is the logic of the categories of meaning (concept, sentence, etc.). The latter denotes a formal theory of objects.

Since the 1980s in particular, theories of formal ontology have also been developed in the context of analytical ontology and information science . Patrick Hayes set the trend. In an early manifesto from 1979 he formulated the program of formalizing the everyday understanding of the actual world. He later softened this in the direction of a formal theory of the structures of possible worlds. These attempts are also applicable to problems of organizing information, for example in large databases.

literature

  • R. Ferrario: Who Cares about Axiomatization? Representation, Invariance, and Formal Ontologies, in: Epistemologia, Special Issue on the Philosophy of Patrick Suppes (2) 2006 (online: PDF )
  • N. Guarino, C. Welty: A Formal Ontology of Properties, in: R. Dieng, O. Corby (Eds.), Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management: Methods, Models and Tools. 12th International Conference, EKAW2000. Springer Verlag, 97-112 (online: PDF )
  • Boris Hennig: What is formal ontology? Online paper 2006 ( PDF )
  • Thomas Hofweber: Logic and Ontology, 2004, in: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, [1] (with further literature and web links)
  • E. Jonathan Lowe: Formal Ontology and the Revival of Metaphysics. In: Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (ed.): Metaphysics Today - Problems and Perspectives of Ontology. Alber, Freiburg 2007, pp. 76-93
  • Uwe Meixner : Introduction to Ontology , Wissenschaftl. Buchges., Darmstadt, 2004, ISBN 3-534-15458-4
  • Roberto Poli, Peter Simons (Eds.): Formal Ontology, Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, 1996.
  • L. Schneider: Formalized Elementary Formal Ontology, in: ISIB-CNR Technical Report 03/2002 (online: PDF )
  • Barry Smith : Basic Tools of Formal Ontology, in: Nicola Guarino (Ed.), Formal Ontology in Information Systems, Amsterdam, Oxford, Tokyo, Washington, DC: IOS Press (Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications), 1998, 19-28 (online: PDF )
  • Barry Smith: Beyond Concepts: Ontology as Reality Representation, in: Achille Varzi and Laure Vieu (Eds.), Proceedings of FOIS 2004. International Conference on Formal Ontology and Information Systems, Turin, 4-6 November 2004 (online: PDF )
  • Barry Smith: Logic and Formal Ontology, in: JN Mohanty / W. McKenna (eds.): Husserl's Phenomenology: A Textbook, Lanham: University Press of America 1989, 29-67 (online: [2] )
  • Barry Smith (Ed.): Parts and moments. Studies in logic and formal ontology, Munich a. a. 1982
  • Barry Smith: Kevin Mulligan: Framework for Formal Ontology, in: Topoi, 3 (1983), 73-85 (online: PDF )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edmund Husserl: Logical investigations . Second part: investigations into the phenomenology and theory of knowledge. 2nd edition Niemeyer, Halle 1913, 219