The top-level concept ontology of Sowa (1995)
 


The following conceptual distinctions are extracted from the article
"Distinctions, Combinations, and Constraints" given by J.F. Sowa at ICCS'95.
They correspond to the following differentias and their cross-products :
Concrete (or Physical), Abstract (or Information), Form (the essential
nature of something), Role (the role that can play something), Mediation 
(the mediating circumstance that can be something), Object (thing that
retains its identity over some period of time) and Process (thing whose
form is in a state of flux).

We have not taken exactly the same type names as Sowa because we want to
clearly distinguish the type names for an attribute or a property
(e.g. concrete, a role) from the type names for things which have this
attribute or this property.



T -- the supertype of all first order concept types

   Thing_having_a_nature -- any 'thing' must have a nature or a form i.e. an essential characteristic or structure
   Thing_playing_a_role -- any 'thing' may play roles in relation to other entities
   Thing_being_a_mediation -- any 'thing' may serve as a mediating circumstance for relating other things, e.g. any process

   Object -- thing that retains its identity during the interval of interest, e.g. a static situation
   Process -- a process whose form is in a state of flux during the interval of interest

   Concrete_thing__Physical_thing -- a thing that is physical (e.g. states, processes, objects, roles or mediations may be physical)

      Physical_thing -- it may be spatial or physical relationship with other things
          Physical_object -- a physical thing which retains its identity during the interval of interest
	  Physical_process -- a physical thing which is in a state of flux during the interval of interest, e.g. to walk, to stab

      Physical_thing_playing_a_role
          Physical_object_being_a_mediation__Situation -- e.g. hiding, singing, song (it is a mediation for the person who have chosen the time interval)
          Physical_process_playing_a_role -- e.g. to disappear from view, to kill

      Physical_thing_being_a_mediation__Circumstance
          Physical_object_being_a_mediation__Situation -- e.g. hiding, singing, song (it is a mediation for the person who have chosen the time interval)
          Physical_process_being_a_mediation__System -- e.g. to hide, to murder, to sing (it is a mediation for the person who have chosen the time interval)

   Abstract_thing__Information -- an information is conveyed by physical matter and is different from it

      Information
          Information_on_object__Schema -- information that does not specify time relationships, e.g. a geometrical form, a picture encoding
	  Information_on_process__Script -- information that represents time sequences, e.g. a computer program, a musical score

      Information_playing_a_role__Proposition
          Information_on_object_playing_a_role__Description -- proposition that describes something
          Information_on_process_playing_a_role__History -- proposition(s) that describe the time sequence of a process, e.g. a computer process trace

      Information_being_a_mediation__Theory
          Information_on_object_being_a_mediation__Argument -- information that explains an object
          Information_on_process_being_a_mediation__Culture -- information that explains a process



  Object Excl Process
  Abstract_thing__Information Excl Concrete_thing__Physical_thing