Formal ontology

In philosophy, the term formal ontology is used to refer to an ontology defined by axioms in a formal language with the goal to provide an unbiased (domain- and application-independent) view on reality, which can help the modeler of domain- or application-specific ontologies (information science) to avoid possibly erroneous ontological assumptions encountered in modeling large-scale ontologies.

By maintaining an independent view on reality a formal (upper level) ontology gains the following properties:

Theories on how to conceptualize reality date back as far as Plato and Aristotle. The term 'formal ontology' itself was coined by Edmund Husserl in the second edition of his Logical Investigations (1913/1921), where it refers to an ontological counterpart of formal logic. Formal ontology for Husserl embraces an axiomatized mereology and a theory of dependence relations, for example between the qualities of an object and the object itself. 'Formal' signifies not the use of a formal-logical language, but rather: non-material, or in other words domain-independent (of universal application). Husserl's ideas on formal ontology were developed especially by his Polish student Roman Ingarden in his Controversy over the Existence of the World. The relations between the Husserlian tradition of formal ontology and the Polish tradition of mereology are set forth in Parts and Moments. Studies in Logic and Formal Ontology, edited by Barry Smith. Smith's work on Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) (see below) arises out of this tradition.

The differences in terminology used between separate formal upper-level ontologies can be quite substantial, but most formal upper-level ontologies apply one foremost dichotomy: that between endurants and perdurants.

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