Introduction to LoR

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Introduction to LoR

• Roberto Poli .
• University of Trento and .
• Mitteleuropa Foundation .
• http//www.mitteleuropafoundation.org

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Two guiding principles
Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate
Entia non sunt diminuenda sine necessitate
A theory should not be more complex than is
necessary, but it cannot be less complex than the
minimum level required to be realistic (A.
Einstein)
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Ontology Metaphysics

• Different authors interpret ontology and
  metaphysics differently
• Some use ontology and metaphysics interchangeably
  (most analytic philosophers, Heidegger)
• Others claim that ontology is broader than
  metaphysics (Meinong, Ingarden)
• Others that metaphysics is broader than ontology
  (most traditional philosophers, Hartmann)
• Furthermore, the reasons for which one may be
  broader than the other vary
• To cut a complex story short
• Ontology deals with what, at least in principle,
  can be categorized (objectified, i.e. subsumed
  under distinguishable categories)
• Metaphysics deals with the problem of the
  totality
• Generally speaking, there is no way to exclude
  that the totality could present aspects that we
  may forever be unable to rationalize, i.e. submit
  to a rational analysis
• Briefly ontology deals with what can be
  rationally understood
• According to this interpretation, science in all
  of its branches is the most successful and
  powerful ally of ontology

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Guiding ideas

• Every science, even those more tentative and less
  successful, provides prima facie data suitable to
  ontological scrutiny
• Every discipline, even those more tentative and
  less successful, provides prima facie data
  suitable to ontological scrutiny
• Ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, etc
• The scientific approach is inherently
  ontological Science is ontological in all its
  ramifications
• Ontology presupposes the accumulated knowledge
  of centuries and the methodical experience of all
  the sciences (Hartmann)

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The Old and the New Ontology

• The old ontology
• Minimal group of categories
• Ens qua ens (identity, non-contradiction, third
  excluded)
• Based on definitions (Essence ? Concept ?
  Definition)
• (Interpreted as) essentially static
• Science as directly governed by ontology
• The new ontology
• Rich series of categories (Particulars, PW,
  Levels, )
• New ontological axioms
• Variety of frameworks of analysis
• Descriptive, Categorial, Formalized
• Intrinsically dynamics (becoming as a mode of
  being)
• The universal mode of being is actually a
  becoming. There are no absolutely static
  structures in the world (Werkmeister on
  Hartmann)
• Interplay between science and ontology

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The New Ontology

• Opens new fields of research (P/W, Levels)
• Studies their interactions
• E.g. Levels and P/W theories
• P ? W and W ? P within the same level
• W ? W within and between levels (Dooyeweerd)
• Discovers higher-order levels of genericity
• Not obtained by abstraction
• Generalizations from internal constraints
• (Learns from science/math)

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Ontology ? Categories

• Two main claims
• There are many categories. Every field of
  iniquiry has its own categories
• (Ontological) categories are NOT concepts
• OC (Ontological Categories) are
• Universal
• Determinants of items
• OC are not ideal entities
• Ideal entities have their own categories
• OC do not determine as grounds / reasons / causes
  / purposes
• OC do not have existence independently of the
  items they determine
• OC are extracted from the items they determine
• The methodology of ontology is full of gaps and
  highly intricate

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Ontology
Collection of information about the many items
making up the world or the specific domain under
analysis

• Descriptive
• Categorial
• Formalized

These categories do not depend on the use of any
specific formalism
Filters, codifies and organizes the results of
descriptive ontology (in either its local or
global setting). It deals with categories like
thing, process, matter, form, whole, part, etc.
Formal codification, evaluation of the adequacy
(expressive, computational, cognitive) of the
various formalisms, and their translations
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Ontology
Data reliability Completeness (different from
and )

• Descriptive
• Categorial
• Formalized

Adequacy Correctedness (different from
) Completeness (different from and )
Efficiency Expressibility Correctedness
(different from ) Completeness (different
from and )
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Categorial Ontology

• Universal Categories
• Modal categories (The Actual and the Possible)
• Polar categories (e.g. Matter-Form,
  Quality-Quantity)
• General categories Time, Process, Cause
• Level categories
• Categories and relations between levels
• Laws of organization
• Laws of stratification (independence/autonomy)
• Laws of dependence
• Laws of coherence (among the categories
  characterizing a level)

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Polar categories

• Matter-form
• One-many
• Inner-outer
• Quality-quantity
• Discretion-continuity

• (Hartmann, Aufbau)
• Principle-concretum
• Structure-modus
• Determination-Dependence
• Harmony-Conflict
• Opposition-Dimension
• Substratum-relation
• Element-Structure

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The novelty

• The philosophical side
• Ontology as conceptual analysis (Ontology_c)
• The computer-science side
• Ontology as technology (Ontology_t)
• New problems
• Huge number of categories
• Ontology as a tool
• TAO-Theory and Applications of Ontology
• 2 vols, Springer 2008

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General ontology
Domain ontologies

• O. of chemistry
• O. of living entities
• O. of mind
• Social O.
• O. of economics
• O. of works of arts
• O. of mathematics
• etc

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Types of domain Ontology (O)

• Domain O in the proper sense (Bio O)
• Sub-domain or facet O (Gene O)
• Cross-domain O (Medical O)
• Micro-domain O (O of edible substances)
• Poli, Obrst, The Interplay Between Ontology as
  Categorial Analysis and Ontology as Technology,
  TAO_2

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What next?

• The problem The theory of ontology is severely
  underdeveloped
• Series of (small) workshops aimed at developing
  the theory of ontology
• Topics
• Levels of reality
• Part-whole PW WP WW
• The structure of individuality
• Domain theory
• Demanding Applications
• Objects of art
• Futures studies (The Ontology of Anticipation)