Christopher, (01)
In that note, Pat and Bill were discussing some issues about
proper usage, but not the question of first occurrence of the
word 'ontology' in the AI literature. Note Pat's brief summary: (02)
PH
> But the above concerns the term's use as a synonym for "logical theory",
> whereas the present thread is addressing its use in AI. (03)
In any case, there is as much confusion about the word 'theory' as
there is about 'ontology'. And the term 'logical theory' is less
common (199,000 hits on Google) than 'formal theory' (300,000 hits). (04)
I'd say that every ontology is a theory. But to be an ontology,
a theory must have an additional claim about the existence of the
entities that its variables refer to. I'd also add the distinction
of formal vs informal theories and ontologies: (05)
Theory: A systematic set of assumptions and their implications. (06)
Ontology: A theory about what exists in some domain. (07)
Comment: Note that a theory or an ontology can be stated in ordinary
language. But it must be systematic. An observation that there is
a robin in your backyard is not an ontology. But a detailed theory
about birds and their characteristic properties and relations could
be called an ontology. (08)
Formal theory: The deductive closure of a set of axioms stated
in some version of logic. (09)
Formal ontology: A formal theory about what exists in some domain. (010)
Comment: The adjective 'formal' as used in both philosophy and
computer science implies the use of a precisely defined notation
for making statements and drawing inferences -- i.e., a logic. (011)
I believe that these four definitions correspond quite closely
to the usage in both philosophy and computer science -- at least
by people who know what they're talking about. For anybody who
doesn't, all bets are off. (012)
John (013)
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