Faculty of Computer Science
Research Group Theoretical Computer Science
Oberseminar: Heterogene formale Methoden
| Date: |
2018, April 11 |
| Author: |
Neuhaus, Fabian |
| Title: |
What is an Ontology? |
Abstract:
In 1992 Tom Gruber proposed the definition of an ontology as “An
ontology is a specification of a conceptualization”. Several variants
exists that usually added adjectives further describing the
specification (e.g., “formal”, “explicit”) or the conceptualization
(e.g., “shared”) ). All of these definitions are not helpful because
they violate one of the basic rules for good definitions: The defining
statement (the definiens) should be clearer than the term that is
defined (the definiendum). Given that “conceptualization” is murkier
concept than “ontology”, any attempt of defining “ontology” as a kind of
“specification of a conceptualization” is an intellectual placebo: it
makes us feel like it provides a better grasp of the nature of
ontologies, but there is no intellectual progress. The presentation
contains two major parts: a discussion of some of the phenomena a
proper definition of ontology should be able to explain and a proposal
for a better definition of “ontology”.
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