FOIS introduction: Ontology---towards a new synthesis

  • Authors:

  • Barry Smith;Christopher Welty

  • Affiliations:

  • University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY;Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the international conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems - Volume 2001
  • Year:
  • 2001

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Abstract

This introduction to the Second International Conference onFormal Ontology and Information Systems presents a briefhistory of ontology as a discipline spanning the boundaries ofphilosophy and information science. We sketch some of the reasonsfor the growth of ontology in the information science field, andoffer a preliminary stocktaking of how the term 'ontology' iscurrently used. We conclude by suggesting some grounds for optimismas concerns the future collaboration between philosophicalontologists and information scientistsPhilosophical ontology is thescience of what is, of the kinds and structures of objects,properties, events, processes and relations in every area ofreality. Philosophical ontology takes many forms, from themetaphysics of Aristotle to the object-theory of Alexius Meinong.The term 'ontology' (or ontologia) was itself coined in1613, independently, by two philosophers, Rudolf Göckel(Goclenius), in his Lexicon philosophicum and Jacob Lorhard(Lorhardus), in his Theatrum philosophicum. Its firstoccurrence in English as recorded by the OED appears in Bailey'sdictionary of 1721, which defines ontology as 'an Account of beingin the Abstract'Regardless of its name, what we now refer to asphilosophical ontology has sought the definitive and exhaustiveclassification of entities in all spheres of being. It can thus beconceived as a kind of generalized chemistry. The taxonomies whichresult from philosophical ontology have been intended to bedefinitive in the sense that they could serve as answers to suchquestions as: What classes of entities are needed for a completedescription and explanation of all the goings-on in the universe?Or: What classes of entities are needed to give an account of whatmakes true all truths? They have been designed to be exhaustive inthe sense that all types of entities should be included, includingalso the types of relations by which entities are tiedtogether.