Information Systems and the Four-Category Ontology

This two-day workshop will bring together metaphysicians, applied ontologists and information systems theorists to discuss the practical application of a four-category ontology to the design of information systems.

This workshop aims to put advocates of four-category  ontologies into direct dialogue with applied ontologists and information systems designers, enabling each to update the other on developments within their disciplines and to share concerns and problems for collective discussion.

Specific foci of the workshop will be (i) the presentation of practical problems in the design of information systems and (ii) the discussion of contemporary developments in the four-category ontology whose practical applications are not yet appreciated.

Registration:  

Whilst attendance is free, and will include teas and coffees, and lunch on the second day, please email Alex Carruth (a.d.carruth @durham.ac.uk) to register your attendence so we can ensure we book the correct amount of catering.    

There will be a conference dinner at 7pm on the Monday evening.    

Programme:   

Tuesday 21st        

16:10 – 17:40 Barry Smith, University at Buffalo “The six category ontology: BFO and its applications”    

Coffee    

14:30-16:00  Nicola Guarino, ISTC-CNR Laboratory for Applied Ontology, Trento TBC    

Lunch          

12:00 – 13:30

Luc Norbert Schneider, Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science “Multi-categorialism, ontological pluralism and scientific ontologies”    

Coffee    

10:00 – 11:30 Jonathan Lowe, Durham University "Essential versus accidental dispositions in the four-category ontology"                

Monday 20th    

3:30 – 5:00 Ludger Jansen, University of Rostock "The four-category ontology and the Web Ontology Language"    

Coffee    

2:15 – 3:00 Petter Sandstad, University of Oslo “Qûa-predicating attributes to kinds – a set-theory based on Cook Wilson”      

1:30 – 2:15 Michele Paolini Paoletti, University of Macerata, Italy “The importance of being negative about facts (and properties)”    

Coffee    

12:15 – 1:00 Colin Batchelor, Royal Society of Chemistry “States of affairs, states and energy in a four-category ontology”

Please direct any enquiries to:

Alex Carruth – a.d.carruth [at] durham.ac.uk

or

David Westland – d.w.westland [at] durham.ac.uk