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| − | Ontology concerns "what exists" (from Greek "ontos", or "being"). Ontology concerns itself with what kind of things really exist, the nature of existence, the fundamental elements of reality, etc. For example, a [[materialist]] ontology assumes that all actually existing things are material things, whereas a [[dualist]] ontology may assume that matter exists, but that humans also have a spiritual nature, which is of a different kind. Kantian ontology divides existence into categories such as space, time, number, etc.
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| − | The word can also mean a collection of concepts considered to be a summary of what things exist, and the relationships between different kinds of things. Aristotelian ontology is [[hierarchical]], for instance, assuming that there are individual animals, grouped into "species", which are in turn grouped into varieties, and ultimately included under a "top level" category, which is "Animal".
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| − | === Ontologies in computer science ===
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| − | See also: [[Philosophy]] | [[Artificial Intelligence]] | [[Specification]]
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| − | Shared sets of explicitly defined terminology which provide a deeper level of meaning by providing equivalence relations between terms. Ontologies describe concepts rather than words.
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| − | [http://www.dictionary.com Dictionary.com]: The branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being.
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| − | An ontology is "the [[specification]] of one's conceptualization of a [[knowledge]] domain." and is therefore a form of [[knowledge representation]]. It is the specs that formally defines relations among terms, eg., [[taxonomy]] and set of [[inference]] [[rules]]. Together they form a richer description of relationships between terms. A formal ontology is a controlled vocabulary expressed in an ontology representation [[language]].
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| − | ==== Ontology Inference Layer ====
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| − | This is a proposal for a [[web]]-based representation and inference layer for ontologies, which combines the widely used [[model|modelling]] primitives from frame-based languages with the formal semantics and [[reasoning]] services provided by description [[logic|logics]].
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| − | * [http://www.ontoknowledge.org/oil/index.shtml Ontology Inference Layer]
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| − | ==== Related Links: ====
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| − | * [http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html What is an Ontology?]
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| − | * [http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/guarino95formal.html Formal Ontology, Conceptual Analysis and Knowledge Representation] by Nicola Guarino at [[Citeseer]]
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| − | ==== Related Topics ====
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| − | * [[Communication]]
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| − | * [[Semantic Web]]
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| − | * [[Agents]]
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| − | * [[Temporary Autonomous Zone]]
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| − | {{infoanarchy|Ontology}}
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| − | [[Category:Philosophy]]
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