Glossary
This document is currently under development. Content may be incomplete or subject to change.
This is the glossary for the National Center for Ontological Research.
A​
Adequatism: The principle that an ontology should be designed to include all entities that are relevant to the domain being modeled, without artificially restricting the scope.
Adjacent_to: A spatial relation in BFO between entities that share a boundary.
Aristotelian definition: A definition that follows the form of genus-differentia, specifying what kind the defined entity is and how it differs from other members of that kind.
Artifact: A material entity created or modified for a specific purpose through intentional human activity.
B​
Basic Formal Ontology (BFO): A top-level ontology designed to support information integration, retrieval and analysis across diverse domains. BFO is characterized by its realist approach and provides a framework of formally defined terms representing basic entities such as objects, processes, functions, and roles.
BFO 2.0: The second major version of the Basic Formal Ontology, providing a more comprehensive framework for ontological modeling.
Boundary: In BFO, a lower-dimensional entity that serves as the extremity of an entity and is dependent on that entity.
C​
Capability: A disposition whose realizations are associated with the satisfaction of some interest on the part of some organism or group of organisms.
Class: A category of entities that share common characteristics.
Conceptology: The study of concepts, as distinguished from ontology, which is concerned with real-world entities.
Conceptualism: The philosophical position that universals exist only within the mind or as mental constructs.
Continuant: An entity that persists, endures, or continues to exist through time while maintaining its identity. Contrasted with occurrent.
Continuant_part_of: A foundational relation in BFO indicating that one continuant is part of another.
D​
Derives_from: A temporal relation in BFO indicating the historical connection between entities where one develops from another.
Defined Class: A class that is specified by a definition giving necessary and sufficient conditions for membership.
Disposition: A realizable entity that exists because of certain features of its bearer, and which can be realized in certain processes under specific circumstances.
Domain Ontology: An ontology that models a specific subject area or domain of interest, such as medicine, finance, or engineering.
E​
Entity: The most general type in BFO, encompassing everything that exists.
F​
Fallibilism: The principle that an ontology may contain errors and should be subject to revision as knowledge advances.
Fiat Object Part: A material entity that is part of an object but does not have physical boundaries corresponding to structural discontinuities.
Formal Ontology: An ontology concerned with general categories applicable across domains.
Function: A special kind of disposition that exists because the bearer has been designed or selected to realize processes of a certain sort.
G​
Generically Dependent Continuant: An entity that depends on one or more independent continuants but can migrate from one bearer to another through copying.
Granularity: The level of detail represented in an ontology.
H​
Has_participant: A relation between a process and a continuant that participates in that process.
History: In BFO, the totality of processes that occur in the spatiotemporal region occupied by a material entity.
I​
Independent Continuant: A continuant that does not depend for its existence on any other entity.
Immaterial Entity: A continuant that is not a material entity, including spatial regions and boundaries.
Information Artifact Ontology (IAO): An ontology dealing with information entities, documents, databases, and related entities.
Interoperability: The ability of different ontologies or systems to work together without special effort.
Is_a: The foundational relation in ontologies, indicating that one type is a subtype of another.
M​
Material Entity: A continuant that has mass and is made of matter.
Material Ontology: An ontology concerned with specific kinds of entities in specific domains.
O​
Object: A material entity that has a relatively stable form and is spatially extended, maximally self-connected, and self-contained.
Object Aggregate: A material entity consisting of multiple objects that are not physically connected.
Occurrent: An entity that happens, unfolds, or develops through time. Examples include processes and events.
Occurrent_part_of: A foundational relation in BFO indicating that one occurrent is part of another.
Ontological Realism: The philosophical position that universals exist in reality independent of human thought or language.
Ontology: A formal representation of the entities, types, properties, and relations that exist in a domain, designed to enable knowledge sharing and reuse.
P​
Particular: An individual entity, as contrasted with a universal.
Perspectivalism: The principle that an ontology represents one among multiple legitimate perspectives on reality.
Preceded_by: A temporal relation in BFO indicating that one process occurs earlier than another.
Process: An occurrent that has temporal parts and depends on some material entity.
Process Boundary: A temporal boundary of a process.
Process Profile: A pattern of processes that occur over time.
Process Characteristic: The counterpart of 'quality' for processes.
Q​
Quality: A specifically dependent continuant that is exhibited if it inheres in an entity.
R​
Realizable Entity: A specifically dependent continuant that is not exhibited during its existence but can manifest in specific processes.
Realism: The philosophical position that reality exists independently of human thought and perception.
Relational Quality: A quality that depends on multiple bearers.
Representational Artifact: An artifact that represents something beyond itself.
Role: A realizable entity that exists because of some external circumstances and is not essential to its bearer.
S​
Site: An immaterial entity that provides for the possibility of containment.
Spatial Region: An immaterial entity that is a part of space.
Spatiotemporal Region: A region that has both spatial and temporal dimensions.
Specifically Dependent Continuant: A continuant that depends for its existence on a specific independent continuant.
System: An object aggregate whose members interact with each other.
T​
Taxonomy: A hierarchical classification of entities.
Temporal Region: A part of time, as distinct from space.
Top-Level Ontology: An ontology that defines very general categories applicable across all domains.
U​
Universal: A repeatable feature of reality, instantiated by particulars. In BFO, universals are contrasted with classes.
Universal-Universal Relation: A relation between types or universals, such as is_a or part_of.
Universal-Particular Relation: A relation between a universal and an instance, such as instantiation.
Use-Mention Distinction: The distinction between using a term to refer to something and mentioning the term itself.