The Waldzell Canon Ontology 
Last modified: Fri 2/14/97 2245 PST
Table of Contents
Purpose
A formal ontology, in the present context, establishes the conceptual
language in which knowledge will be represented and communicated. This
language defines at least the kinds of referring terms that
may be invoked and the kinds of relations which players may assert
about those terms. An ontology may go beyond the definition of kinds of
terms and relations to establish an inventory of particular terms and relational
assertions as well.
The Waldzell Canon Ontology serves as the semantic foundation for representing
knowledge in the Canon. As all activities at Waldzell revolve around the
Canon, the Canon Ontology is the pivotal element for the enterprise overall.
In the current working version, there are four kinds of terms, six kinds
of relations and three ways to further modify the meaning of a relation.
This version does not yet specify an inventory of particular terms or assertions.
Term Types
- Object Instance: a term referring to some particular entity
or set of entities whose existence is being stipulated (real, potential
or imaginary, in the past, present and/or future). The Earth is an object
instance, I am an object instance, my siblings are an object instance,
one particular Langerhans cell in Albert Einstein's pancreas is an object
instance.
- Object Class: a term referring generally to a collection of
properties shared by certain (real, potential or imaginary) object instances.
Terms such as 'planet', 'linguist', 'human pancreas', 'human Langerhans
cell' and 'the intelligentsia of a nation state' all denote object class
concepts.
- Event Instance: a term referring to some definable portion of
an instance's trajectory (real, potential or imaginary, in the past, present
and/or future). The trajectory of an instance is the unbroken sequence
of changes which it undergoes throughout its entire existence. The most
recent orbital capture of the Earth by the Sun, my falling asleep after
going to bed on May 3rd, 1984, the American Civil War, and the cessation
of insulin production by the aforementioned Langerhans cell in Einstein's
pancreas are all event instances.
- Event Class: a term referring generally to a collection of properties
shared by certain (real, potential or imaginary) event instances. The successful
dispersal of the intelligentsia of a nation state is an event class. Being
born and dying are event classes defined for the class of humans. Hammering
a 4" framing nail through a 2x4 can be an event class defined for
the class of (Western) carpenters. Fizzling to a giant red star is an event
class (if I remember my stellar physics correctly) defined for the class
of yellow dwarves.
Relation Types
- class-1 Superclass-Subclass class-2: to assert
this relation is to assert that everything that is true of an instance
of class-1 is also true of an instance of class-2; in other
words, a class-2 is a kind of class-1; this relation type
can either be asserted of two object classes or of two event classes
- class-1 Class-Instance instance-1: to assert this
relation is to assert that instance-1 is an instance of class-1;
this relation type can either be asserted of an object class and an object
instance or of an event class and an event instance
- object-1 Object-Event event-1: to assert this
relation is to assert that the trajectoral segment identified by event-1
is part of the overall trajectory of object-1; this relation type
can either be asserted of an object class and an event class or of an object
instance and an event instance
- term-1 Aggregate-Element term-2:
to assert this relation is to assert that term-1 can be partially
describable in terms of (one of) its parts, term-2; the state of
an object is the state of all its parts, although there often exists a
much more concise description of such an aggregate state; aggregate events
may be composed of more detailed elements; this relation type can be asserted
of two object classes, two object instances, two event classes or two event
instances
- event-1 Cause-Effect event-2: to assert this relation
is to assert that event-1 is (or was, or will be, in a real, imaginary
or potential universe) a necessary cause of event-2; any event can
be the effect of multiple necessary causes and/or a necessary cause of
multiple effects; the infinitary abstraction of sufficient cause
is not expressible in the Waldzell Canon Ontology because it presupposes
knowledge of all necessary causes of an event; this relation type can either
be asserted of two event classes or of two event instances
- instance-1 Ident instance-2: to assert this relation
is to assert that the two terms instance-1 and instance-2
in fact refer to the same instance; this relation type can either be asserted
of two object instances or of two event instances
Note that this collection of relation types allows a term of any type
to be related to another term of almost any type, but there is a
restriction that arises from this particular choice: no single assertion
can relate an object with an event and a class with an instance at the
same time. Apart from this one restriction, there are two different ways
to relate any term type with another term of the same type, and there is
one way to relate each allowable pair of dissimilar term types in a single
assertion.
Relation Modifiers
The basic meaning of any relation (and thereby the assertion in which
it occurs) is further modified in three different ways, using three different
kinds of relation modifiers, those for scope, mode and negation.
Scope indicates how widely held the player believes an assertion
to be, mode indicates the degree of certainty with which the assertion
is considered (by those indicated by the scope modifier), and negation
allows a basic assertion to be turned into its own contradiction. Note
that negation applies to the otherwise unmodified assertion, mode modifies
the assertion to which the negation modifier has already applied, and scope
applies to the assertion as already modified by both mode and negation.
- Scope
- CONVENTION: by attaching this scope modifier to a relation,
the player asserts that she believes the underlying assertion to be believed/known
conventionally, not just by herself
- SELF: by attaching this scope modifier to a relation, the player
asserts that he believes the underlying assertion to be his own personal
belief/knowledge, not necessarily held by anybody else
- NOBODY: by attaching this scope modifier to a relation, the
player asserts that she believes the underlying assertion to be held by
nobody, including herself
- Mode
- CERTAINLY: by attaching this mode modifier to a relation, the
player indicates that it is the certain belief in/knowledge of the underlying
assertion which is being referred to
- PROBABLY: by attaching this mode modifier to a relation, the
player indicates that it is the probable (but not certain) belief in/knowledge
of the underlying assertion which is being referred to
- MAYBE: by attaching this mode modifier to a relation, the player
indicates that it is the possible (but not more probable than improbable)
belief in/knowledge of the underlying assertion which is being referred
to
- Negation
- NEG: by attaching the negation modifier to a relation, the player
indicates that the assertion being referred to is the contradiction of
the underlying assertion
- AFF: by attaching the affirmation modifier to a relation, the
player indicates that the assertion being referred to is simply the underlying
assertion, not its contradiction
Change Log
970214 2200 PST: the relation type
Environ-State (ENVST) was renamed to Aggregate-Element (AGGELEM),
and its range of application was extended to event classes and instances
as well as object classes and instances
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(c) Copyright 1997 by Mark P. Line (<waldzell@pair.com>)