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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
Abstract has-part is the inverse of the abstract part-of relationship. [FL, 2008-02-28]
abstract part-of
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]
boundary of
"Boundary of" connects boundaries to the entities which they bind. [FL, 2008-02-28]
coincides with
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]
depends on
This relation captures the notion of existential dependence. [RH, 2006]
exhibits
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]
exists at
Presentials exist at a single time boundary.
framed by
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]
frames
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]
has boundary
The has-boundary relation connects entities with their boundaries, e.g. chronoids to time boundaries, topoids to surfaces, etc. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has left time boundary
Temporal regions have exactly one extremal left time boundary. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has-part
The inverse of part-of. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has participant
Temporally extended entities have participants. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has proper part
The inverse of proper part-of. [FL 2008-02-28]
has property
Entities can have properties. In GFO, properties are individualized, and "has property" links an entity to its particular property. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has right time boundary
Temporal regions have exactly one extremal right time boundary. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has role
The inverse of role of. [FL, 06.07.2008]
has spatial boundary
Space entities may have spatial boundaries. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has temporal part
The inverse of temporal part-of. [FL, 2008-03-13]
has time boundary
Temporal regions have temporal boundaries. [FL, 2008-02-28]
has token
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]
instance of
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]
instantiated by
Inverse of instance of. [FL, 2008-02-28]
left boundary of
Left boundary of a temporal region. [FL, 2008-02-28]
necessary for
An entity is necessary for another one if the latter is required for the former to exist. [FL 2008-02-28]
occupied by
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]
occupies
part of
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]
participates in
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]
played by
The inverse of plays-role. [FL, 06.07.2008]
plays role
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]
projection of
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]
projects to
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]
proper part of
The irreflexive variant of part-of. [FL 2008-02-28]
property of
Links properties to their bearers. [FL, 2008-02-28]
right boundary of
Right boundary of a temporal region. [FL, 2008-02-28]
role of
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]
spatial boundary of
Spatial boundaries may bound spatial entities. [FL, 2008-02-28]
temporal part-of
A part-of relationship between two time entities. Time-boundaries cannot have parts. [FL, 2008-03-13]
time boundary of
Time boundaries bound temporal regions. [FL, 2008-02-28]
token of
Inverse of the has token relations. [FL, 2008-02-28]
Abstract
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
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
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
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
Chronoids are entities sui generis. Every chronoid has exactly two extremal and infinitely many inner time boundaries which are equivalently called time-points.
Concept
Concepts are categories that are expressed by linguistic signs and are present in someone’s mind. [herre-h-2006--a, p.6]
Concrete
Concrete individuals have a relation to time or space (they are in time and space).
Continuous change
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
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
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
Discrete processes have a partitioning into an alteration of discrete changes and states. [FL, 2008-03-13]
Entity
Everything is an entity, i.e., entity is the category which everything instantiates. [FL, 2008-02-27]
We use the term entity for everything that exists where existence is understood in the broadest sense. [part1-v1.0.1, p.5]
Event
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]
History
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
Individuals are entities that are not instantiable. [herre-h-2006--a, p.19]
Left time boundary
see time boundary description [FL, 2008-02-27]
Line
Surfaces are bound by lines. [FL, 2008-07-27]
Material boundary
A material entity which depends on a material object and occupies a spatial boundary. [FL, 2008-02-27]
Material object
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
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]
NOTE: In earlier versions, "Occurrent" denoted the category named "Processual Structure" herein. [FL, 2008-03-13]
Perpetuant
A perpetuant is a concrete individual which persists through time and exhibits presentials. [FL, 06.03.2008]
Point
Lines are bound by points. [FL, 2008-02-27]
Presential
A presential exists wholly at exactly one time boundary.
Process
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
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
Processual roles are roles with a process as context, and they are dependent processes. [FL, 2008-02-27]
A processual role corresponds to the manner in which a single participant behaves in some process. [herre-h-2006--a, p.38]
Property
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
A relational role corresponds to the way in which an argument participates in some relation. [herre-h-2006--a, p.38]
Relator
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
Role
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
A social role corresponds to the involvement of a social object within some society. [herre-h-2006--a, p.38]
Space entity
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]
Space time entity
A space-time-entity is something in which concrete entities can be located. [FL, 2008-02-27]
Spatial boundary
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
Space regions are mereological sums of topoids.
State
A process is a state with respect to a category iff every of its process boundaries instantiates that category. [FL, 2008-03-13]
Surface
Topoids are bounded by surfaces. [FL, 2008-02-27]
Symbol structure
Symbolic structures are signs or texts that may be instantiated by tokens. [herre-h-2006--a, p.6]
Temporal region
Time Regions are defined as the mereological sum of chronoids, i.e. time regions may consist of non-connected intervals of time.
Time entity
The time model of GFO is based on Brentano and the glass continuum of Allen&Hayes.
Time boundary
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
Topoids are connected compact regions of space. They have spatial boundaries.
Universal
Universals are immanent categories. They exist in re. [FL, 2008-02-27]