Applied ontology

Applied ontology can involve the practical application of ontological resources to specific domains,[1] such as management, relationships, biomedicine, information science or geography. Alternatively, applied ontology can aim more generally at developing improved methodologies for recording and organizing knowledge.[2]

This article is about the application of philosophical ontology. For the term in computer science, see ontology (information science).

Much work in applied ontology is carried out within the framework of the Semantic Web.

Applying ontology to relationships

The challenge of applying ontology is ontology's emphasis on a world view orthogonal to epistemology. The emphasis is on being rather than on doing (as implied by "applied") or on knowing. This is explored by philosophers and pragmatists like Fernando Flores and Martin Heidegger.

One way in which that emphasis plays out is in the concept of "speech acts": acts of promising, ordering, apologizing, requesting, inviting or sharing. The study of these acts from an ontological perspective is one of the driving forces behind relationship-oriented applied ontology.[3] This can involve concepts championed by ordinary language philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Applying ontology can also involve looking at the relationship between a person's world and that person's actions. The context or clearing is highly influenced by the being of the subject or the field of being itself. This view is highly influenced by the philosophy of phenomenology,[4] the works of Heidegger, and others.[5] [6]

Ontological perspectives

Social scientists adopt a number of approaches to ontology.[7] Some of these are:[8]

  1. Realism - the idea that facts are "out there" just waiting to be discovered;
  2. Empiricism - the idea that we can observe the world and evaluate those observations in relation to facts;
  3. Positivism - which focuses on the observations themselves, attending more to claims about facts than to facts themselves;
  4. Grounded theory - which seeks to derive theories from facts;
  5. Engaged theory - which moves across different levels of interpretation, linking different empirical questions to ontological understandings;[9]
  6. Postmodernism - which regards facts as fluid and elusive, and recommends focusing only on observational claims.

See also

References
  1. Sadegh-Zadeh, Kazem (6 April 2015) [2012]. "22.1.2 Applied Ontology". Handbook of Analytic Philosophy of Medicine. Volume 119 of Philosophy and Medicine (2 ed.). Dordrecht: Springer. p. 760. ISBN 9789401795791. Retrieved 4 July 2023. Applied ontology, also called domain ontology, is concerned (i) with the question of what entities exist in a particular domain, for example, in the domain of a scientific branch such as biology, or even in the more specialized domain of a scientific theory such as the theory of active immunity; and (ii) with the formal taxonomy of those entities.
  2. Munn, Katherine (2 May 2013) [2008]. "Introduction: What is Ontology for?". In Munn, Katherine; Smith, Barry (eds.). Applied Ontology: An Introduction. Metaphysical Research, Volume 9. Heusenstamm, Hesse: ontos verlag. p. 7 - 8. ISBN 9783110324860. Retrieved 4 July 2023. The authors' goal in producing this book has been to show how philosophy and information science can learn from one another, so as to create better methodologies for recording and organizing our knowledge about the world.
  3. Rubin, Harriet (1998-12-21). "The Power of Words". Fast Company. ISSN 1085-9241. Archived from the original on 2003-04-22. Retrieved 2010-03-24. Talk all you want to, Flores says, but if you want to act powerfully, you need to master 'speech acts': language rituals that build trust between colleagues and customers, word practices that open your eyes to new possibilities. Speech acts are powerful because most of the actions that people engage in -- in business, in marriage, in parenting -- are carried out through conversation.
  4. "Phenomenology". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. 2013-12-16.
  5. McCarl, Steven R.; Zaffron, Steve; Nielsen, Joyce McCarl and Kennedy, Sally Lewis, "The Promise of Philosophy and the Landmark Forum". Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. XXIII, No. 1 & 2, Jan/Feb & Mar/Apr 2001 doi:10.2139/ssrn.278955
  6. Hyde, Bruce (February 14, 1995). "An Ontological Approach to Education" (PDF). Retrieved 18 October 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Raddon, Arwen. "Epistemology & Ontology in Social Science Research" (PDF). le.ac.uk/. University of Leicester. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  8. "Research Methodology: Ontology". Research Methodologies. research-methodology.net. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  9. James, Paul (2006). Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In —Volume 2 of Towards a Theory of Abstract Community. London: Sage Publications.
  10. McCarl, Steven R.; Zaffron, Steve; Nielsen, Joyce McCarl and Kennedy, Sally Lewis, "The Promise of Philosophy and the Landmark Forum". Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. XXIII, No. 1 & 2, Jan/Feb & Mar/Apr 2001 doi:10.2139/ssrn.278955
  • Graham, S. Scott (2015). The Politics of Pain Medicine: A Rhetorical-Ontological Inquiry. Chicago Scholarship Online. ISBN 9780226264059.
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