An Overview of OntoClean
- http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/resource/presentation/OntoClean--ChrisWelty_20041118/guarinowelty_final_v4.pdf
- authors: @nicola-guarino @christopher-welty
Summary
OntoClean is a methodology for validating the ontological adequacy of taxonomic relationships. It is based on highly general ontological notions drawn from philosophy, like essence, identity, and unity, which are used to characterize relevant aspects of the intended meaning of the properties, classes, and relations that make up an ontology. These aspects are represented by formal metaproperties, which impose several constraints on the taxonomic structure of an ontology. The analysis of these constraints helps in evaluating and validating the choices made. In this chapter we present an informal overview of the philosophical notions in- volved and their role in OntoClean, review some common ontological pitfalls, and walk through the example that has appeared in pieces in previous papers and has been the basis of numerous tutorials and talks.
Highlights
Locations
Our assignment is +O~U+R. We assume the property to be rigid since instances of locations cannot change being locations. Identity is given by the fact that two locations are the same if and only if they have the same parts. This kind of criterion is fairly com- mon, and is known as mereological extensionality. It applies to all entities that are trivially defined to be the sum of their parts. It is important to realize that this cri- terion implies that a location or region cannot “expand” – if so then the identity criteria would have to be different. So, extending a location makes it a different one.
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