Ontology
rights: Copyright (c) 2006-2008, Regents of the Research Group Ontologies in Medicine (Onto-Med), University of Leipzig, Germany. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. Neither the name of the Research Group Ontologies in Medicine (Onto-Med), University of Leipzig nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
version info: Version 1.0 ($Revision: 1.2 $)
description: This file belongs to the OWL distribution of GFO, cf. http://www.onto-med.de/ontologies/gfo. ----------------- It comprises a set of selected major and rather stable GFO categories, with the intention to serve as a comprehensible starting point which 1. should be useful for immediate modeling purposes, 2. covers GFO's areas and exhibits outstanding GFO features 3. omits categories of more theoretical character or those which are easily definable Categories of the third kind will be provided in separate extensions. ----------------- In some comments, references to documents are used. These refer to several versions of the following report: Herre, H.; Heller, B.; Burek, P.; Hoehndorf, R.; Loebe, F. & Michalek, H.. General Formal Ontology (GFO): A Foundational Ontology Integrating Objects and Processes. Part I: Basic Principles. Research Group Ontologies in Medicine (Onto-Med), University of Leipzig. [herre-h-2006--a]: Version 1.0, Onto-Med Report Nr. 8, 01.07.2006 [part1-v1.0.1] Version 1.0.1., Draft, 14.02.2007

abstract has-part
type: ObjectProperty
description: Abstract has-part is the inverse of the abstract part-of relationship. [FL, 2008-02-28]

abstract part-of
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: The abstract part-of relation is denoted by p(x,y); the argument-types of this relation are not specified, i.e. we allow arbitrary entities to be arguments. We assume that p(x,y) satisfies the condition of a partial ordering, .i.e. the following axioms: reflexivity, antisymmetry and transitivity. [RH, 2006 based on herre-h-2006--a, p.44]
inverse of: abstract has-part

boundary of
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
description: "Boundary of" connects boundaries to the entities which they bind. [FL, 2008-02-28]
sub property of: depends on
inverse of: has boundary

coincides with
type: ObjectProperty
type: SymmetricProperty
description: Coincidence is a relationship between space boundaries or time boundaries, respectively. Intuitively, two such boundaries are coincident if and only if they occupy “the same” space, or point in time, but they are still different entities. [herre-h-2006--a, p.46]
domain: Class
  union of: Spatial boundary
  union of: Time boundary
range: Class
  union of: Spatial boundary
  union of: Time boundary

depends on
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: This relation captures the notion of existential dependence. [RH, 2006]
inverse of: necessary for

exhibits
type: ObjectProperty
description: In the GFO-account of persistence, perpetuants exhibit presentials, i.e., the former ``exist through'' the latter at the time where the presential exists. With respect to persistants, presentials instantiate persistants. [FL, 2008-07-10]
domain: Perpetuant
range: Presential

exists at
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
description: Presentials exist at a single time boundary.
domain: Presential
range: Time boundary

framed by
type: ObjectProperty
description: A presential is framed by a spatial region if the location which the presential occupies is a spatial part of that region. [FL, 2008-02-27, based on herre-h-2006--a, p. 21]
domain: Presential
range: Space entity
inverse of: frames

frames
type: ObjectProperty
description: A spatial region frames a presential if the location which the presential occupies is a spatial part of that region. [FL, 2008-02-27, based on herre-h-2006--a, p. 21]
range: Presential
domain: Space entity

has boundary
type: ObjectProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: The has-boundary relation connects entities with their boundaries, e.g. chronoids to time boundaries, topoids to surfaces, etc. [FL, 2008-02-28]
sub property of: necessary for

has left time boundary
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Temporal regions have exactly one extremal left time boundary. [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Left time boundary
sub property of: has time boundary
inverse of: left boundary of

has-part
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: The inverse of part-of. [FL, 2008-02-28]
sub property of: abstract has-part
inverse of: part of

has participant
type: ObjectProperty
description: Temporally extended entities have participants. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Processual Structure
inverse of: participates in
range: Class
  complement of: Processual Structure
range: Class
  complement of: Space time entity

has proper part
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: The inverse of proper part-of. [FL 2008-02-28]
sub property of: has-part
inverse of: proper part of

has property
type: ObjectProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Entities can have properties. In GFO, properties are individualized, and "has property" links an entity to its particular property. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Entity
range: Property
inverse of: property of

has right time boundary
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Temporal regions have exactly one extremal right time boundary. [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Right time boundary
sub property of: has time boundary
inverse of: right boundary of

has role
type: ObjectProperty
description: The inverse of role of. [FL, 06.07.2008]
domain: Entity
range: Role
sub property of: abstract has-part
inverse of: role of

has spatial boundary
type: ObjectProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Space entities may have spatial boundaries. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Space entity
range: Spatial boundary
sub property of: has boundary
inverse of: spatial boundary of

has temporal part
type: ObjectProperty
description: The inverse of temporal part-of. [FL, 2008-03-13]
sub property of: has-part
inverse of: temporal part-of

has time boundary
type: ObjectProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Temporal regions have temporal boundaries. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Temporal region
range: Time boundary
sub property of: has boundary
inverse of: time boundary of

has token
type: ObjectProperty
description: The specific relation from a symbol structure (a category in GFO) to an entity seen as an occurrence of that symbol structure, as a token of it. [FL 2008-02-28]
range: Concrete
domain: Symbol structure
sub property of: instantiated by
inverse of: token of

instance of
type: ObjectProperty
description: The instantiation relation holds between an entity and a category. Put differently, the category is predicated of that entity, the entity is the instance of that category. Entities of all kinds can be instances, which results in categories which have individuals as instances or categories which may have categories as instances, such as "species". [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Category
domain: Entity
inverse of: instantiated by

instantiated by
type: ObjectProperty
description: Inverse of instance of. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Category
range: Entity

left boundary of
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Left boundary of a temporal region. [FL, 2008-02-28]
sub property of: time boundary of

necessary for
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: An entity is necessary for another one if the latter is required for the former to exist. [FL 2008-02-28]

occupied by
type: ObjectProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Presentials exist in space, and the space entity occupied by a presential is uniquely determined (where a fixed granularity is assumed). [FL, 2008-02-27 based on herre-h-2006--a, p.21]
range: Presential
domain: Space entity
sub property of: frames
inverse of: occupies

occupies
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
description: Presentials exist in space, and the space entity occupied by a presential is uniquely determined (where a fixed granularity is assumed). [FL, 2008-02-27 based on herre-h-2006--a, p.21]
domain: Presential
range: Space entity
sub property of: framed by

part of
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: The relation between parts and wholes. The union of several domain-specific part-of relationships not contained explicitly in gfo-basic, like spatial part-of or part-of among material structures. [FL, 2008-03-13]
sub property of: abstract part-of
domain: Class
  union of: Concrete
  union of: Space time entity
range: Class
  union of: Concrete
  union of: Space time entity

participates in
type: ObjectProperty
description: Intuitively, objects participate in processes, for instance. In GFO, participation accommodates the GFO approach to persistence, i.e., at least presentials can participate in processes. Moreover, it is useful to extend the notion of participation also to other temporally extended entities. [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Processual Structure
domain: Class
  complement of: Processual Structure
domain: Class
  complement of: Space time entity

played by
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
description: The inverse of plays-role. [FL, 06.07.2008]
range: Entity
domain: Role
inverse of: plays role

plays role
type: ObjectProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Entities can play roles with respect to some other entity which provides a context for that role. The plays-role relationship links an entity with its role. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Entity
range: Role

projection of
type: ObjectProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: If, for instance, a process happens during a certain time, i.e., some temporal region, that region is the projection of that process (to time). [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Time entity

projects to
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
description: Links an entity to its temporal extension. Entities which are in time are related to the corresponding temporal regions by projects to. Moreover, entities related to others which are in time may likewise project to temporal regions. [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Time entity
inverse of: projection of

proper part of
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: The irreflexive variant of part-of. [FL 2008-02-28]
sub property of: part of

property of
type: ObjectProperty
description: Links properties to their bearers. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Property

right boundary of
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
type: InverseFunctionalProperty
description: Right boundary of a temporal region. [FL, 2008-02-28]
sub property of: time boundary of

role of
type: ObjectProperty
description: The relationship between a role and its context. Typically, the nature of the context determines that of the roles, which are in some sense a part of that context. E.g., processes form the context for certain roles (processual roles), such that the latter are recognizable as processes. [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Entity
domain: Role
sub property of: abstract part-of

spatial boundary of
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
description: Spatial boundaries may bound spatial entities. [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Space entity
domain: Spatial boundary
sub property of: boundary of

temporal part-of
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
description: A part-of relationship between two time entities. Time-boundaries cannot have parts. [FL, 2008-03-13]
domain: Time entity
sub property of: part of
range: Class
  intersection of: Time entity
  intersection of: Class
    complement of: Time boundary

time boundary of
type: ObjectProperty
type: FunctionalProperty
description: Time boundaries bound temporal regions. [FL, 2008-02-28]
range: Temporal region
domain: Time boundary
sub property of: boundary of

token of
type: ObjectProperty
description: Inverse of the has token relations. [FL, 2008-02-28]
domain: Concrete
range: Symbol structure
sub property of: instance of

Abstract
type: Class
subclass of: Individual
disjoint with: Concrete
disjoint with: Space time entity
description: Abstract individuals are independent from time and space (they are not in time and space). Examples: the number "2" or pi. [RH, 2006]

Amount of substrate
type: Class
subclass of: Presential
description: An amount of substrate is a presential, namely the matter of some material object. Amounts of substrate follow different identity criteria than material objects, i.e., they instantiate different persistants. Appropriate connotations of "amount of substrate" are "stuff" (in the common understanding) or "mass term" (in linguistics). [FL, 2008-03-13]

Category
type: Class
disjoint with: Individual
description: Categories satisfy the following conditions: (1) Categories can be instantiated; (2) Categories can be predicated of other entities. Categories are defined intensional-with-an-s. They are, therefore, closely related to language. [RH, 2006]

Change
type: Class
subclass of: Occurrent
disjoint with: Event
disjoint with: History
see also: [part1-v1.0.1, p. 30]
description: A change refers to a structure centered around two presentials, which are boundaries of one and the same process. If they exist at coinciding time boundaries, the change comes close to notions in the literature like "punctual" or "instantaneous event" as well as "moment" (in a temporal reading). Alternatively, the presentials may be boundaries at the opposite ends of a process of arbitrary extension. Either notion of change is relative to contradictory conditions between which a transition takes place. These conditions refer to some collection of pairwise disjoint subcategories of one category. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Chronoid
type: Class
subclass of: Temporal region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has right time boundary
  on class: Entity
  cardinality: 1
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has left time boundary
  on class: Entity
  cardinality: 1
description: Chronoids are entities sui generis. Every chronoid has exactly two extremal and infinitely many inner time boundaries which are equivalently called time-points.

Concept
type: Class
subclass of: Category
disjoint with: Symbol structure
disjoint with: Universal
description: Concepts are categories that are expressed by linguistic signs and are present in someone’s mind. [herre-h-2006--a, p.6]

Concrete
type: Class
subclass of: Individual
disjoint with: Space time entity
description: Concrete individuals have a relation to time or space (they are in time and space).

Continuous change
type: Class
subclass of: Change
disjoint with: Discrete change
see also: [part1-v.1.0.1, p.30-31]
description: A continuous change is a change such that (1) its process boundaries exist at non-coincident time-boundaries, (2) any two non-coincident process boundaries of its process are distinguished with respect to the reference category and (3) any two coincident process boundaries exhibit no such distinction, i.e., no discrete changes of the same reference category. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Continuous process
type: Class
subclass of: Process
description: A process is a continuous process if it can be partitioned such that the partition contains only states or processes within a continuous change. Those states and changes must be based on the same reference category. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Discrete change
type: Class
subclass of: Change
description: A discrete change is a change at coincident time boundaries, for which a recognizable difference exists. That means, there is a category with two disjoint sub-categories such that each of these is instantiated by exactly one of the process boundaries in the change. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Discrete process
type: Class
subclass of: Process
description: Discrete processes have a partitioning into an alteration of discrete changes and states. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Entity
type: Class
equivalent class: Thing
description: Everything is an entity, i.e., entity is the category which everything instantiates. [FL, 2008-02-27]
description: We use the term entity for everything that exists where existence is understood in the broadest sense. [part1-v1.0.1, p.5]

Event
type: Class
subclass of: Occurrent
disjoint with: History
description: Events are processual structures comprising a process, and one of its extremal process boundaries. The latter must further satisfy a condition which differs from the condition applicable to all other boundaries of the process. I.e., the extremal boundary instantiates a sub-category of the event's reference category which is disjoint with that category instantiated by the remaining process boundaries. [FL, 2008-03-13]
see also: [part1-v1.0.1, p.31-32]

History
type: Class
subclass of: Occurrent
description: Histories are processual structures which consist of a process and a number of presentials which are constituents of the boundaries of that process. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Individual
type: Class
description: Individuals are entities that are not instantiable. [herre-h-2006--a, p.19]

Left time boundary
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: Time boundary
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: left boundary of
    some values from: Chronoid
subclass of: Time boundary
disjoint with: Right time boundary
description: see time boundary description [FL, 2008-02-27]

Line
type: Class
equivalent class: Restriction
  on property: spatial boundary of
  some values from: Surface
subclass of: Spatial boundary
description: Surfaces are bound by lines. [FL, 2008-07-27]

Material boundary
type: Class
subclass of: Presential
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: framed by
  some values from: Spatial boundary
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: depends on
  some values from: Material object
disjoint with: Material object
description: A material entity which depends on a material object and occupies a spatial boundary. [FL, 2008-02-27]

Material object
type: Class
subclass of: Presential
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: framed by
  some values from: Topoid
description: A material structure is an individual which satisfies the following conditions: it is a presential, it occupies space, it is a bearer of qualities, but other entities cannot have it as quality, and it consists of an amount of substrate, and it instantiates a persistant ("has identity").

Occurrent
type: Class
subclass of: Processual Structure
disjoint with: Process
description: The category of occurrents comprises several categories that can be derived from processes. [FL, 2008-03-06 based on part1-v.1.0.1, p.30]
comment: NOTE: In earlier versions, "Occurrent" denoted the category named "Processual Structure" herein. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Perpetuant
type: Class
subclass of: Concrete
description: A perpetuant is a concrete individual which persists through time and exhibits presentials. [FL, 06.03.2008]

Point
type: Class
equivalent class: Restriction
  on property: spatial boundary of
  some values from: Line
subclass of: Spatial boundary
description: Lines are bound by points. [FL, 2008-02-27]

Presential
type: Class
subclass of: Concrete
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: exists at
  some values from: Time boundary
disjoint with: Processual Structure
description: A presential exists wholly at exactly one time boundary.

Process
type: Class
subclass of: Processual Structure
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: projects to
  some values from: Temporal region
description: Processes are directly in time, they develop over and unfold in time. Processes have characteristics which cannot be captured by a collection of time boundaries. In particular, processes exhibit internal coherence. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Processual Structure
type: Class
subclass of: Concrete
description: The category of processual structures centers around the more intuitive notion of processes. It captures processes themselves and occurrents, i.e., primarily structures of several other kinds that can be derived from processes. [FL, 2008-03-13 based on part1-v1.0.1, p.30]

Processual role
type: Class
subclass of: Process
subclass of: Role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: role of
  some values from: Process
disjoint with: Relational role
disjoint with: Social role
description: Processual roles are roles with a process as context, and they are dependent processes. [FL, 2008-02-27]
description: A processual role corresponds to the manner in which a single participant behaves in some process. [herre-h-2006--a, p.38]

Property
type: Class
subclass of: Individual
disjoint with: Relator
description: A property is a dependent entity which another entities has, i.e., that entity exhibits its property. Other common terms for property in natural language are characteristic, feature, quality, etc. [FL, 2008-02-27]

Relational role
type: Class
subclass of: Property
subclass of: Role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: played by
  some values from: Entity
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: role of
  some values from: Relator
disjoint with: Social role
description: A relational role corresponds to the way in which an argument participates in some relation. [herre-h-2006--a, p.38]

Relator
type: Class
subclass of: Individual
description: A relator mediates between or connects entities. It is a dependent entity which depends on those entities connected. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Right time boundary
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: Time boundary
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: right boundary of
    some values from: Chronoid
subclass of: Time boundary
description: see time boundary description [FL, 2008-02-27]

Role
type: Class
subclass of: Individual
see also: A role corresponds to the involvement of some entity (the player of the role) within another entity (the context of the role). Examples of role terms: student, patient, runner, reader, factor. [FL, 2008-02-27]

Social role
type: Class
subclass of: Role
description: A social role corresponds to the involvement of a social object within some society. [herre-h-2006--a, p.38]

Space entity
type: Class
subclass of: Space time entity
disjoint with: Time entity
description: Spatial entities in GFO are analyzed according to the ideas of Franz Brentano. Starting from connected three-dimensional entitites (topoids), related spatial entities can be distinguished. [FL, 2008-02-27]
see also: [herre-h-2006--a, sect. 5.2]

Space time entity
type: Class
subclass of: Individual
description: A space-time-entity is something in which concrete entities can be located. [FL, 2008-02-27]

Spatial boundary
type: Class
equivalent class: Restriction
  on property: spatial boundary of
  some values from: Space entity
subclass of: Space entity
disjoint with: Spatial region
description: Boundaries of regions are surfaces, boundaries of surfaces are lines, and boundaries of lines are points. As in the case of time-boundaries, spatial boundaries have no independent existence, i.e. they depend on the spatial entity of which they are boundaries.

Spatial region
type: Class
subclass of: Space entity
description: Space regions are mereological sums of topoids.

State
type: Class
subclass of: Process
see also: [part1-v1.0.1, p.34]
description: A process is a state with respect to a category iff every of its process boundaries instantiates that category. [FL, 2008-03-13]

Surface
type: Class
equivalent class: Restriction
  on property: spatial boundary of
  some values from: Topoid
subclass of: Spatial boundary
description: Topoids are bounded by surfaces. [FL, 2008-02-27]

Symbol structure
type: Class
subclass of: Category
disjoint with: Universal
description: Symbolic structures are signs or texts that may be instantiated by tokens. [herre-h-2006--a, p.6]

Temporal region
type: Class
subclass of: Time entity
disjoint with: Time boundary
description: Time Regions are defined as the mereological sum of chronoids, i.e. time regions may consist of non-connected intervals of time.

Time entity
type: Class
subclass of: Space time entity
description: The time model of GFO is based on Brentano and the glass continuum of Allen&Hayes.

Time boundary
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  union of: Left time boundary
  union of: Right time boundary
equivalent class: Restriction
  on property: time boundary of
  some values from: Temporal region
subclass of: Time entity
description: Time boundaries depend on a chronoids and can coincide. Left time boundaries, if viewed from the perspective of bounding a specific chronoid, are those which are earlier than any inner or right time boundary of that chronoid. On the other hand, within a pair of coincident time boundaries, a left time boundary is later than the right time boundary in that pair. [FL, 2008-02-27]

Topoid
type: Class
subclass of: Spatial region
description: Topoids are connected compact regions of space. They have spatial boundaries.

Universal
type: Class
subclass of: Category
description: Universals are immanent categories. They exist in re. [FL, 2008-02-27]