Ontologies in Modeling and Simulation: An Epistemological Perspective

Abstract

Ontologies are formal specifications of concepts. They represent entities of a specific knowledge domain and the relationships that can hold between the entities. Ontologies are formal descriptions of the so called "body of knowledge" that composes a domain. Regardless of being implicitly or explicitly applied during the modeling, ontologies set the relation between formal signs used in computer simulations and "meaning" as a notion of human minds. Unfortunately, the essence of this relation is disputed, especially in modern epistemology, which deals with the "nature of knowledge" and the methods and limitations of gaining knowledge. Therefore, the chapter introduces first the debate which epistemological view is most appropriate for modeling and simulation. On the basis of this introduction ontologies are scrutinized with respect to their ability to capture knowledge. As a consequence of this analysis two main classes of ontologies for M&S are distinguished: Methodological and referential ontologies. Their values and limits are discussed in detail. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.