Lecture 6: Relations, Qua Entities and Ontological Patterns

In this lecture, we will demonstrate that the typology of types we study in Lecture 3 - as well as the catalog of Ontology Design Patterns emerging from it - can be used  to differentiate and compose taxonomic structures for all Endurant Types, not only Object Types. In other words, kinds, subkinds, phases, roles, rolemixins, etc. can also be applied to model Aspect (i.e., Qualities, Modes, Relator) Types. Moreover, we will look inside the truthmakers of material relations to expose their structure showing that typically they are relators composed of particular types of externally dependent modes called Qua Entities. The explicit modeling of the latter can then address some important modeling problems, including the problem of incompatible attributions to the same entity and the Counting Problem. Furthermore, we will see how recognizing the relation between the truthmakers of different material relations can help us to identity and model relations between these relations themselves.

Learning goals: after this lecture you should be able to

  • Explain how the typology of types in UFO and the Design Patterns emerging from it can be used to model all types of Aspect Types
  • Apply the representation of this typology and associated Design Patterns in OntoUML to design ontologically consistent taxonomic structures among other Aspect Types
  • Critically Evaluate the use of these Design Patterns in OntoUML models
  • Explain the different truthmakers of material relations. In particular, explain the relation between Relators and Qua Entities, and how the relation between these truthmakers can explain the different relations of subsetting, specialization, redefinition between material relations
  • Apply the fragment of OntoUML representing these entities to design ontologically consistent conceptual models 

The recording of this lecture can be found here and the accompanying slides here.

Materials

  1. Guarino, N., Guizzardi, G., “We need to Discuss the Relationship”: Revisiting Relationships as Modeling Constructs, 27th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAISE 2015), Stockholm, 2015.
  2. Fonseca, C., Porello, D., Guizzardi, G., Almeida, J.P., Guarino, N., Relations in Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling, 38th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER 2019), Salvador, Brazil.
  3. Guarino, N., Sales, T.P., Guizzardi, G., Reification and Truthmaking Patterns, 37th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER 2018), Xi’an, China.
  4. Ruy, F., et al., From Reference Ontologies to Ontology Patterns and Back, Data & Knowledge Engineering, Elsevier, 2017.
  5. Guarino, N., Sales, T.P., Guizzardi, G., Reification and Truthmaking Patterns, 37th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER 2018), Xi’an, China.
  6. Guizzardi, G., Agent Roles, Qua Individuals and The Counting Problem, Invited Chapter in Software Engineering of Multi-Agent Systems, vol. IV, P. Giorgini, A.Garcia, C. Lucena, R. Choren (eds.), Springer-Verlag, 2006.
  7. Costal, D., et al., Formal Semantics and Ontological Analysis for Understanding Subsetting, Specialization and Redefinition of Associations in UML, 30th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER 2011), Brussels, Belgium, 2011.