Conceptual Models and Their Foundations

Abstract

There is no common agreement which artifact should (not) be considered to be a conceptual model although the term ‘conceptual model’ is used for more than for five decades in computer science and for more than one century in science and engineering. A team from all faculties at our university has been able to develop a notion of model that covers all model notions known in the disciplines of this team. We now introduce three notions of conceptual model in this paper: light, slim, and concise versions of the notion of conceptual model. The paper answers the following questions: Are all models also conceptual models? What is a conceptual model? Is there a formal notion of a conceptual model? What is not yet a conceptual model? What will never be a conceptual model? What is a concept? Which philosophical and scientific foundations we should consider while modelling? Is the existence of an ontology a necessary prerequisite for the being as conceptual model?.