***Apologies for duplications*** (01)
Dear colleagues, (02)
we are happy to inform you that issue 4-4/2010 of Applied Ontology is
now online at www.applied-ontology.org, featuring three high-quality papers: (03)
Barry Smith and Werner Ceusters. Ontological realism: A methodology fo
coordinated evolution of scientific ontologies
Gary H. Merrill. Realism and reference ontologies: Considerations, reflections
and problems
Gilles Kassel. A formal ontology of artefacts (04)
In this issue the debate on ontological realism continues: Barry Smith and
Werner Ceusters vehemently defend their realist perspective in an extensive
rebuttal of Merrill's broadside attack "Ontological realism: methodology or
misderection?" published on issue 2/2010. Gary H. Merrill responds to Smith and
Ceusters in a short but pointed rejoinder. (05)
In the summer of 2010, IOS Press made Merrill's paper freely available on the
Applied Ontology Web site. The public response was astonishing. Merrill's
claims were hotly debated in many online fora. The e-mail list known as
OBO-Discuss was deluged with hundreds of postings in which members of the
biomedical ontology community—including Merrill, Smith, and Ceusters—argued
about the tenets of ontological realism and the merits of Merrill's seemingly
devastating critique. (06)
As with Merrill's original contribution, IOS Press is making all the papers in
this series freely available online, and anticipates continued, lively
discussion of these important issues in a wide range of electronic fora. These
matters remain critical to the ontology community, which has been discussing
for centuries the role of the realist perspective, and to the scientific
community, which increasingly is turning to the ontology community for guidance
regarding how best to codify scientific knowledge for use within information
systems. (07)
See the IOS Press release and the papers at
http://www.applied-ontology.org/ontologicalrealism. (08)
Regards, (09)
Nicola Guarino and Mark Musen
Editors in Chief, Applied Ontology (010)
Note: Thanks to an agreement with IOS Press, IAOA members have free online
access to Applied Ontology through the IAOA Member's area, at www.iaoa.org. (011)
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