Mapping the multitude - Categories in a process ontology

Abstract

One of the main problems with artificial intelligence is the fact that the information which artificial intelligence is typically required to handle is heterogeneously structured. Ontologies are designed to mitigate this effect. From a philosophical perspective, we refer to an ontology when we have a systematic representation whose various relations can adequately describe a domain. Humans use special strategies to reduce the amount of data at their disposal. They apply selection and reorganization techniques to adapt their knowledge to new situations. Categories are understood in this sense as necessary relations that occur due to necessary orders within certain domains. Thus, each domain has its necessary set of relations and a necessary ordering of entities which define the domain-specific relational structure. This kind of representation has far-reaching consequences in applications, for example for Knowledge Management. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.