abstract-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Analytical location holding between non-physical endurants and abstract regions.
inverse of: abstract-location-of
range: abstract-region
sub property of: exact-location
domain: non-physical-endurant

atomic-part
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The part relation between a particular and an atom.
sub property of: part
domain: particular
range: particular

boundary-of
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A boundary here is taken to be a part (mereological treatment). Consequently, in the case of endurants, (reified) boundaries are features.
domain: particular
range: particular
sub property of: proper-part-of

constant-participant
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Anytime x is present, x has participant y. In other words, all parts of x have a same participant.Participation can be constant (in all parts of the perdurant, e.g. in 'the car is running'), or temporary (in only some parts, e.g. in 'I'm electing the president').
range: endurant
sub property of: participant
domain: perdurant

exact-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A location relation bounded to regions and defined analytically through the composition of inherence and q-location. This is the analytical version of 'generic location'.
sub property of: generic-location
domain: particular
range: region

generic-constituent
type: ObjectProperty
comment: 'Constituent' should depend on some layering of the ontology. For example, scientific granularities or ontological 'strata' are typical layerings. A constituent is a part belonging to a lower layer. Since layering is actually a partition of the ontology, constituents are not properly classified as parts, although this kinship can be intuitive for common sense. Example of specific constant constituents are the entities constituting a setting (a situation), whilethe entities constituting a collection are examples of generic constant constituents.
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: particular
domain: particular

generic-dependent
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The dependence on an individual of a given type at some time. This is traditionally a relation between particulars and universals, but this one states that x generically depends on y if a z different from y, but with the same properties, can be equivalently its depend-on.This is a temporally-indexed relation (embedded in this syntax).
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: particular
range: particular

generic-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The most generic location relation, probably equivalent to more than one image schema in a cognitive system (e.g. containment for exact location, proximity for approximate location).This is meant to reason on generalized, common sense as well as formal locations, including naive localization, between any kinds of entities. Generic location is branched into 'exact' location, ranging on regions, and 'approximate' (naive) location, ranging on non-regions.
inverse of: generic-location-of
sub property of: mediated-relation
domain: particular
range: particular

has-quale
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A quality having a q-location at an atomic region.
sub property of: q-location
range: quale
inverse of: quale-of
domain: quality

host
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The immediate relation holding for features and entities.
domain: feature
inverse of: host-of
range: physical-endurant
sub property of: specifically-constantly-dependent-on

identity-c
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: Any pair of individuals are ontologically identical if they are identical to themselves. Reflexive, symmetric, and transitive.
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: particular
domain: particular

identity-n
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: Any pair of individuals are notionally identical iff they instantiate all and only the same concepts.
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: particular
range: particular

immediate-relation
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation that holds without additional mediating individuals. In logical terms, a non-composed relation.
domain: particular
range: particular

immediate-relation-i
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation that holds without additional mediating individuals. In logical terms, a non-composed relation.
inverse of: immediate-relation
range: particular
domain: particular

inherent-in
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The immediate relation holding for qualities and entities.
inverse of: has-quality
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: particular
domain: quality

life
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Total constant participation applied to the mereological sum of the perdurants in which an endurant participates.
sub property of: constant-participant-in
domain: endurant
inverse of: life-of
range: perdurant

mediated-relation
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation that composes other relations. For example, a participation relation composed with a representation relation.Composed relation cannot be directly expressed in OWL-DL, then (at least some) compositions are expressed as class or restriction axioms.
range: particular
domain: particular

mediated-relation-i
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation that composes other relations. For example, a participation relation composed with a representation relation. Composed relation cannot be directly expressed in OWL-DL, then (at least some) compositions are expressed as class or restriction axioms.
inverse of: mediated-relation
domain: particular
range: particular

mereologically-coincides
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Having the same parts at time t.
domain: endurant
range: endurant
sub property of: temporary-part

overlaps
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Mereological overlap: having a common part.
sub property of: mediated-relation
range: particular
domain: particular

part
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: The most generic part relation, reflexive, asymmetric, and transitive.
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: particular
range: particular

participant
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The immediate relation holding between endurants and perdurants (e.g. in 'the car is running').Participation can be constant (in all parts of the perdurant, e.g. in 'the car is running'), or temporary (in only some parts, e.g. in 'I'm electing the president').A 'functional' participant is specialized for those forms of participation that depend on the nature of participants, processes, or on the intentionality of agentive participants. Traditional 'thematic role' should be mapped to functional participation.For relations holding between participants in a same perdurant, see the co-participates relation.
range: endurant
sub property of: immediate-relation
inverse of: participant-in
domain: perdurant

partly-compresent
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A composed (mediated) relation used here to make relations 'temporary': by adding it as a superrelation, the effect is that the two related endurants cannot be present at all the same time intervals, but are compresent at least at some time interval (see related axiom).In FOL, the same constraint can be stated directly by coreference.This workaround can be used to index time of relations that involve reciprocal dependency, but it cannot be used in general with relations involving multiple strata of reality. For example, _about_ relation can be temporally indexed, without involving that the time of the information object overlaps with the time of the entity the information is about (but this works for e.g. the _realizes_ relation between information objects and entities whatsoever). The different temporal constraints of about vs. expresses probably derive from the dependency of aboutness from conception (to be about x, an information object should also express a description d that is satisfied by a situation including x, then temporal overlapping of _about_ is true in virtue of d). On the other hand, even conceives cannot be indexed in this way, because overlapping does not hold between the time og the conceiving agent, and the conceived description (or situation).
sub property of: mediated-relation
range: particular
domain: particular

physical-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Analytical location holding between physical endurants and physical regions.
sub property of: exact-location
domain: physical-endurant
inverse of: physical-location-of
range: physical-region

proper-part
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: The proper part relation: irreflexive, antisymmetric, and transitive.
sub property of: part
range: particular
domain: particular

q-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The immediate relation holding for qualities and regions. See 'generic location' branching for the various mediated relations that embed q-location.
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: quality
range: region

q-present-at
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Presence of a physical quality when inheres in an endurant.
sub property of: mediated-relation
domain: physical-quality
range: time-interval

r-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation for representing regions within other regions, e.g. in measurement spaces (space composition).The result of r-location composition is a new 'composed region', which can either preserve the same region type (e.g. physical+physical->physical, or physical+abstract->physical), or not (e.g. physical+abstract->abstract). See 'composition description' for more details.In some cases, space composition is conventional, i.e. a space is just 'located' at another space, as in the case of measurement spaces:(direct composition): r r-location r1In other cases, r-location implies a complex path, e.g. :(homogeneous composition): r q-location-of q inherent-in x has-quality q1 q-location r1(heterogeneous composition across endurants and perdurants): r q-location-of q inherent-in e participant-in p has-quality q1 q-location r1(heterogeneous composition across physical and non-physical endurants): r q-location-of q inherent-in pe specific-constant-dependent npe has-quality q1 q-location r1
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: region
range: region

sibling-part
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Mereological sibling: having a common whole
sub property of: mediated-relation
domain: particular
range: particular

specific-constant-constituent
type: ObjectProperty
comment: 'Constituent' should depend on some layering of the ontology. For example, scientific granularities or ontological 'strata' are typical layerings. A constituent is a part belonging to a lower layer. Since layering is actually a partition of the ontology, constituents are not properly classified as parts, although this kinship can be intuitive for common sense. Example of specific constant constituents are the entities constituting a setting (a situation), whilethe entities constituting a collection are examples of generic constant constituents.
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: particular
range: particular
inverse of: specific-constant-constituent-of

specific-constant-dependent
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The constant dependence between two individuals. Taken here as primitive.
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: particular
domain: particular
inverse of: specifically-constantly-dependent-on

strong-connection
type: ObjectProperty
comment: By strong connection here we mean a connection between two entities that share a boundary.
sub property of: mediated-relation
domain: particular
range: particular

t-inherent-in
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The immediate relation holding for qualities and entities at time t.
inverse of: has-t-quality
sub property of: inherent-in
range: particular
domain: quality

temporary-atomic-part
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Having an atom as part at a time t.
domain: endurant
range: endurant
inverse of: temporary-atomic-part-of
sub property of: temporary-proper-part

temporary-part
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Being part at time t. It holds for endurants only. This is important to model parts that can change or be lost over time without affecting the identity of the whole. In FOL, this is expressed as a ternary relation, but in DLs we only can reason with binary relations, then only the necessary axiom of compresence is represented here.
domain: endurant
range: endurant
sub property of: part
sub property of: partly-compresent

temporary-participant
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Only some parts of the perdurant p have a participant e.In fact, participation can be constant (in all parts of the perdurant, e.g. in 'the car is running'), or temporary (in only some parts, e.g. in 'I'm electing the president').Implicitly, this relation has a temporal indexing.If needed, in OWL one can derive such indexing by expliciting what parts of p have e as _constant_ participant.An appropriate OWL axiom is created to bind this relation to a proper part of it, which has the temporary-participant as a constant one.
range: endurant
sub property of: participant
domain: perdurant

temporary-participant-in
type: ObjectProperty
comment: x participates in some of y's parts.
domain: endurant
sub property of: participant-in
range: perdurant
inverse of: temporary-participant

temporary-proper-part
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Being proper part at time t. It holds for endurants only. This is important to model proper parts that can change or be lost over time without affecting the identity of the whole.
domain: endurant
range: endurant
sub property of: proper-part
sub property of: temporary-part

total-constant-participant
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The perdurant p has a participant e that constantly participates in p with all its parts, e.g. in 'I played the concert' (where the concert is a solo concert).
sub property of: constant-participant
range: endurant
domain: perdurant

total-temporary-participant
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The perdurant p has a participant e that temporarily participates in p with all its parts, e.g. in 'I played the concert' (where I actually played just an ouverture).See also 'temporary-participant'.
range: endurant
domain: perdurant
sub property of: temporary-participant

weak-connection
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The basic connection, not requiring a common boundary.
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: particular
domain: particular

about
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The relation between information objects and entities they are about. The difference with 'expresses' is that the last requires a situation to be about something. E.g. Dante's Comedy is about facts like Dante's travel to the hereafter. The Comedy expresses a script as well as various related meanings, while the facts talked about are not 'expressed'.Given that descriptions are expressed by at least one IO, and that interpretations of IOs requires conceiving a description, and the (plausible) claim that being about something can only be done in context, i.e. within a situation, we can propose that the conceived description is satisfied by the situation (the context) of the entity the IO is about.On this basis, about would result to be a mediated relation. This is still a proposal, then we keep about here as a primitive for some time.
range: particular
domain: information-object
sub property of: references

acts-for
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Figures are not dependent on roles defined or used in the same descriptions they are defined or used, but they can act because they depute some powers to some of those roles. In other words, a figure selected by some agentive role can play that role because there are other roles in the descriptions that define or use the figure. Those roles select endurants that result to act for the figure.For example, an employee acts for an organization that deputes the role (e.g. turner) that classifies the employee. Simply put, a guy working as a turner at FIAT acts for (or on behalf of) FIAT.In complex figures, like organizations or societies, a total agency is possible when an endurant plays a delegate, or representative role of the figure.
sub property of: mediated-relation
inverse of: acted-by
domain: agent
range: figure

admits
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The composition of d-uses and valued-by relations: a description d-uses a parameter that is valued by a region.
sub property of: mediated-relation
range: region
domain: description

adopted-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: An important relation between agents and descriptions is adoption, requiring previous creation by a rational agent, and internal representation by the same agent. It can involve an actual desire to perform the possibly expected actions.
inverse of: adopts
domain: description
sub property of: internally-represented-in
range: rational-agent

adopts
type: ObjectProperty
comment: An important relation between agents and descriptions is adoption, requiring previous creation by a rational agent, and internal representation by the same agent. It can involve an actual desire to perform the possibly expected actions.
range: description
sub property of: internally-represents
domain: rational-agent

attitude-towards
type: ObjectProperty
comment: It is the immediate relation between roles or figures, and tasks. It is the descriptive counterpart of the 'participant-in' relation for agentive roles or figures.In other words, it is used to state attitudes, attention or even subjection that an object can have wrt an action or process. Formally, a modality target is a task that sequences a perdurant that has a participant that plays a role bound to that modality target with a certain modality.For example, a person is usually obliged to drive in a way that prevents hurting other persons. Or a person can have the right to express her ideas.Another, more complex example: a BDI application to a certain ordered set of tasks including initial conditions (beliefs), final conditions (desires), and ways to reach goals (intentions). In other words, to move from beliefs to goals is a way of bounding one or more agent(s) to a sequence of actions.
range: course
sub property of: modal-target
domain: Class
  union of: agent-driven-role
  union of: agentive-figure

c-sat
type: ObjectProperty
comment: C-SAT - like R-SAT - concerns entities that exist in a situation entirely prior to the description. Moreover, it assumes redundant satisfaction. But, differently from P-SAT and R-SAT, no qualified satisfaction is assumed. In fact, C-SAT implies no dependency of a situation on its description. C-SAT typically applies to different views of existing situations, as for regulative descriptions (disclaimer: the situation can be already created by complying to the regulation, e.g executing it as a plan, but in this case there actually exists a plan that has the regulation as part), narratives, symbolic interpretations, etc.
inverse of: c-sat-by
range: description
sub property of: satisfies
domain: situation

characterizes
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A role r characterizes a collection c when proper subsets of the members of c play different roles r,...,rn that are all used by a same description or deputed by a same figure.
inverse of: characterized-by
range: collection
sub property of: intensionally-references
domain: role

classified-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A.K.A. 'selected-by'.The referencing relation between concepts defined by descriptions and constituents of situations. It can be understood as a reification of a 'satisfiability' relation holding between elements of theories and elements of models.It has a time index, but this should not be intended as a partial compresence, since the time only refers to a part of the classified particular life or extension.
domain: particular
inverse of: classifies
range: concept
sub property of: intensionally-referenced-by

classifies
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A.K.A. 'selects'.The referencing relation between concepts defined by descriptions, and constituents of situations. It can be understood as a reification of a 'satisfiability' relation holding between elements of theories and elements of models.It has a time index, but this should not be intended as a partial compresence, since the time only refers to a part of the classified particular life or extension.
range: particular
domain: concept
sub property of: intensionally-references

co-participates-with
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation holding between two endurants participating in a same perdurant. This typically subsumes many common sense, verbally encoded, relations, such as "making", "moving", "transforming", etc.
range: endurant
domain: endurant
sub property of: mediated-relation

component
type: ObjectProperty
comment: 'Component' is a proper part with a role (or function) in a system or a context. Roles can be different for the same entity, and the evaluation of them changes according to the kind of entity. For instance, components of endurants can 'play functional roles' in a whole, while components of perdurants are the essential 'episodes' in their whole.As a functional part relation, component is not transitive, because functions depend on intentions and/or designs, and something intentionally essential for a direct whole, can be non-essential for another, indirect whole.
range: particular
domain: particular
sub property of: proper-part
inverse of: component-of

covers
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The role shared by all members of a collection has a covering relation towards the collection.
range: collection
sub property of: intensionally-references
domain: role

created-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: An important relation between agents and descriptions is creation, implying that a given description is *specifically* dependent on a rational agent.
inverse of: creates
domain: description
sub property of: internally-represented-in
range: rational-agent

creates
type: ObjectProperty
comment: An important relation between agents and descriptions is creation, implying that a given description is *specifically* dependent on a rational agent.
range: description
sub property of: internally-represents
domain: rational-agent

d-uses
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Descriptions can d-use (descriptively use) concepts or figures, provided that used ones are defined by some description.
sub property of: component
domain: description
range: Class
  union of: concept
  union of: figure

defines
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Descriptions define either concepts or (social) figures. Once defined, they can be d-used by other descriptions.
sub property of: d-uses
domain: description
range: Class
  union of: concept
  union of: figure

deputes
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Figures can depute roles that are played by endurants that are supposed to 'act for' the figure.
sub property of: immediate-relation
inverse of: deputed-by
domain: figure
range: role

direct-predecessor
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Anti-transitive predecessor.
range: particular
domain: particular
sub property of: predecessor

direct-successor
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Anti-transitive succession.
domain: particular
range: particular
inverse of: direct-predecessor
sub property of: successor

empowered-to
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation between a role and a power allowed towards some function/task.This is dispositional, and implies that a participation classified by this relation is an 'empowered participation'.
sub property of: attitude-towards
inverse of: empowered-for
range: task
domain: Class
  union of: agent-driven-role
  union of: agentive-figure

expands
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A partial order relation that holds between descriptions. It represents the proper part relation between a description and another description featuring the same properties of the former, with at least an additional one.Descriptions can be expanded either by adding other descriptions as parts, or by refining concepts or figures that are d-used by them.Specializing the concepts or figures that are d-used by them is on the contrary a case of description specialization.For descriptions, an intention to expand must be present (unless purely formal theories are considered, but even in this case a criterion of relevance is usually active).
sub property of: proper-part
range: description
domain: description

expected-setting-for
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A double composition is needed here for linking situations and descriptions components, since many possible constituents could be available in the situation. The first one constrains the classifies relation through description components, the second one constrains it through situation constituents.
sub property of: mediated-relation
range: concept
domain: situation

expects
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The composition of d-uses and sequences relations: a description d-uses a course that sequences a perdurant.
sub property of: mediated-relation
range: perdurant
domain: description

exploits
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A method can exploit an involved endurant when it plays a device-like role.
range: endurant
inverse of: exploited-by
sub property of: involves
domain: method

expresses
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation between information objects that are used as representations (signs) and the content (meaning, conceptualization) they represent. In this ontology content is reified as a 'description'.Information objects are 'systemic' objects created by the system of rules of a semiotic code. For the representation between the physical implementation of information objects (physical representations) and information objects, the 'realized-by' relation is used.
range: description
domain: information-object
sub property of: references

extensionally-equivalent
type: ObjectProperty
type: SymmetricProperty
comment: Two or more collections can be extensionally equivalent and still not be the same collection. Each collection needs a unifying description which provides its intensional identity criterion.
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: collection
domain: collection

functionally-unifies
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A description can provide its unity criterion to a physical object. In this case we say that the description *functionally unifies* the physical object. This relation is equivalent to a composition of a description that unifies a collection whose members are (usually connected) proper parts of a physical object.Ideally, this notion should be used to provide a definition to physical objects, but this application would destroy the distinction between a 'perceived' object (an endurant whose unity depends on the perception competence of an agent), and a 'functional' object, since each perceived object would be such because it is functionally unified by a description conceived by the perceiving agent. In DOLCE we still apply to the distinction between perception and function.
range: physical-object
domain: description
sub property of: references

has-in-scope
type: ObjectProperty
comment: When there is an 'epistemological layering', i.e. a description d involves another description d' (one of the roles in d classifies d'), a situation that satisfies d', will be in the scope of d as well.For example, a judgment procedure will have a legal case in its scope, but being a legal case depends on satisfying some legal description not identical to that procedure.Another example: a plan assessment is a technique to evaluate a plan execute, and the assessment 'has in scope' the plan execution.
domain: description
inverse of: in-scope-of
sub property of: references
range: situation

has-method
type: ObjectProperty
comment: An activity expected by a method.
domain: activity
sub property of: expected-by
range: method

hypostasis
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A particular has a figure as (one of) its hypostases, e.g. a personification like the holy grail or a goddess.
sub property of: immediate-relation-i
domain: particular
range: figure
inverse of: hypostasis-of
sub property of: referenced-by

hypostasis-of
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A figure is an hypostasis of a particular, e.g. a personification like the holy grail or a goddess, or an organization, which is the hypostatis of a (postulated) collective).
range: particular
domain: figure
sub property of: references

instantiates
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The maximal specialization achievable according to some criterion. Only applicable to social objects that logically reify set-related entities (relations, classes, sets).
sub property of: specializes
domain: Class
  union of: collection
  union of: concept
  union of: description
range: Class
  union of: collection
  union of: concept
  union of: description

internally-represented-in
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The relation between descriptions and agents. Agents have inner (a.k.a. 'mental') states and are endowed with, or produce, representations or conceptualizations, both corresponding here to 'descriptions'. The relation has a time index, but this should not be intended as a partial compresence, since time only refers to the part of the agent's life in which it represents the description (a.k.a. 'conceives', now rejected because of its strong human-rationality connotation). Provisionally, internally-represents is introduced here as an immediate (primitive) relation, but other options are under study. The first involves mediating internal representation through an ontology of mental states and events, while the second is semiotic: since descriptions are expressed by at least one information object, representing internally requires at least one creation/interpretation of an information object, therefore internally-represents would be a 'mediated' relation.
sub property of: immediate-relation-i
range: agent
domain: description

internally-represents
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The relation between agents and descriptions. Agents have inner (a.k.a. 'mental') states and are endowed with, or produce, representations or conceptualizations, both corresponding here to 'descriptions'. The relation has a time index, but this should not be intended as a partial compresence, since time only refers to the part of the agent's life in which it represents the description (a.k.a. 'conceives', now rejected because of its strong human-rationality connotation). Provisionally, internally-represents is introduced here as an immediate (primitive) relation, but other options are under study. The first involves mediating internal representation through an ontology of mental states and events, while the second is semiotic: since descriptions are expressed by at least one information object, representing internally requires at least one creation/interpretation of an information object, therefore internally-represents would be a 'mediated' relation.
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: agent
range: description
inverse of: internally-represented-in

interprets
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The relation between agents and information objects. In order to interpret something, an agent should conceive a description that results to be 'expressed by' that information object.Interprets implies that an expressed description is conceived by the agent (i.e., when an agent interprets an IO, it conceives of a description expressed by the IO; of course two agents can conceive of different descriptions, then resulting in different interpretations).
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: agent
range: information-object
inverse of: interpreted-by

involves
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The composition of d-uses and played-by relations: a description d-uses a role that is played by an endurant.
range: endurant
sub property of: mediated-relation
domain: description

makes
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A particular case of an endurant participating in a perdurant that meets (is connected to the beginning of) the life of another endurant.
domain: endurant
range: endurant
sub property of: co-participates-with

member
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Being a (generic, temporary) constituent in a countable collection, for example: member of a society, bacterium in a colony, etc.
range: endurant
sub property of: generic-constituent
domain: collection

metaphorically-plays
type: ObjectProperty
comment: An endurant of type e1 metaphorically plays a role (defined in a description d2), when that role comes from a metaphorical mapping between the description d1 that grants a unity criterion to endurants of type e1, and another description d2 that grants a unity criterion to endurants of type e2.
domain: endurant
sub property of: plays
range: role

modal-target
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The relation between roles and courses. Modal target subrelations can be seen as 'reifications' of the operators of modal logics.
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: course
domain: Class
  union of: agentive-figure
  union of: non-agentive-figure
  union of: role

obliged-to
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation between a role and a duty binding towards some function/task.This is dispositional, and implies that a participation classified by this relation is a 'due participation'.
sub property of: attitude-towards
inverse of: obligation-for
range: task
domain: Class
  union of: agent-driven-role
  union of: agentive-figure

optionally-used-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A task (as any other concept) can be optional within some plan (or any description). In this case, it can be ignored in plan execution without affecting the satisfaction of the plan.Within plans, an task said to be optional should be placed in a way that preserves the topology (the connectedness) of the maximal task, except for sequential tasks, where it can be skipped without affecting the control structure. In fact, an optional task must either be component of a bag or sequential task, or have the concurrent task or the any-order task as a direct predecessor.
domain: concept
sub property of: d-used-by
range: description

ordered-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: a.k.a. 'expressed according to'. The relation between information objects and the languages, codes, grammars, etc. that they are ordered by. E.g. Dante's Comedy is ordered by Middle Age Italian language (in this case, a complex of encoding systems).In principle, any description can be used as an encoding system, but in practice, only some combinatorial systems are used for encoding (see module on 'information objects').
sub property of: mediated-relation
range: description
domain: information-object
inverse of: orders

p-sat
type: ObjectProperty
comment: P-SAT assumes two satisfaction semantics: redundant satisfaction and qualified satisfaction. In order to allow for a correct implementation of the qualified satisfaction, P-SAT requires that the description exists prior to at least some of the entities in the setting of the satisfying situation. Ontologically, it results that P-SAT also implies a specific dependency of the situation on its description. P-SAT typically applies to plans, projects, designs, methods, techniques, game rules, instructions, punishment rules, constitutive descriptions, sanctions, and strategies.A sample P-SAT qualified satisfaction axiom for plans is given in OWL.
range: description
sub property of: satisfies
domain: situation

parametrized-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The mediated relation between an entity and a parameter through the region at which the entity is localized and that is the value for the parameter.
sub property of: mediated-relation-i
domain: particular
range: parameter
inverse of: parametrizes

played-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: This is the immediate relation between roles and endurants. A role classifies the position (function, use, relevance, ...) of an endurant within a context (description). Roles can be ordered, interdependent, at different layers. etc.
range: endurant
sub property of: classifies
inverse of: plays
domain: role

plays
type: ObjectProperty
comment: This is the immediate relation between roles and endurants. A role classifies the position (function, use, relevance, ...) of an endurant within a context (description). Roles can be ordered, interdependent, at different layers. etc.
domain: endurant
sub property of: classified-by
range: role

predecessor
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: To be understood as 'entity x has predecessor y'.This is the transitive version, but it results to be a complex property in OWL-DL, and transitivity should be overruled.
sub property of: immediate-relation-i
range: particular
domain: particular

r-sat
type: ObjectProperty
comment: R-SAT assumes redundant satisfaction and qualified satisfaction, but it works out that semantics with entities in the situation that entirely exist prior to the description.This seems paradoxical, since a description hardly motivates what happens if it is not present to any agent involved in things happening. For this reason, we postulate a so-called specific retroactive dependency (SRD), meaning that the creator of the description is willing to attribute the status of a scientific law to that description, despite it could not be present before the situation. R-SAT typically applies to explanations that are considered as well-founded in science (physical, social, or cognitive), reverse engineering, criminal investigation, etc. Consider that the actual validity of the explanation is not addressed by the description, but by external evaluation descriptions.
range: description
sub property of: satisfies
domain: situation

realized-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: a.k.a. support.A (usually physical) representation (p. endurant, p. perdurant, p. quality, p. region, or p. situation) realizes a non-physical object according to a system of rules.The main use of this relation is between information objects and the entities through which information objects are used and interpreted. E.g. a paper copy of the 1861 edition of Dante's Comedy, with Dore's illustrations, realizes the Comedy (as an information object).There is a sense in which any entity that realizes an IO also realizes an IO about itself.For example, a painting realizing information about a woman also realizes information about its own information. Of course, the converse of the previous axiom does not hold in general.For example, the information about a woman can be realized by entities different from that woman (as when referring to an absent woman). In other words, an entity (in a semiotic perspective) always realizes two information objects: one about itself, and another about something else.In the non-representation cases, the information objects are identical (an entity only realizes information about itself).Therefore entities, once they have a relevance in a society, can have semiotic properties. Even physical artifacts that are not built primarily for communicative purposes e.g. a chair can be considered as realizing some IO that expresses a design description (cf. system-design), and is about a context (situation) of use, fruition, or just affordance that satisfies the design.
domain: non-physical-object
sub property of: intensionally-references
range: physical-realization

referenced-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation holding between non-physical objects and entities whatsoever (thus including non-physical objects themselves). An intuition for the references relation could be that a non-physical object adds 'information' to an entity. In fact, non-physical objects depend on a communication setting. In most cases, this is the characteristic relation that provides a unity criterion to objects, events, etc. For example, cars are objects and not mere aggregates because there is a project, a design, a social value, a functional structure, a personal emotional structure, etc. attached to them. This attachment can be represented by means of 'non-physical objects' that 'reference' cars. The most obvious application is for situations, which do not exist without a description, although they still are extensional entities: a situation without a part is no more the same situation, but a situation is not a mere aggregate, since it has references to a description as its unity criterion. Adding information to an entity can also be thought as an intentional solution to a holistic stance. Defenders of this view -within different frameworks- are Kant, Brentano, Husserl, Gestalt psychologists, Merleau-Ponty ... References is distinguished according to the kinds of non-physical objects and referenced ground entities: referencing between descriptions and situations is called 'SATISFIED-BY', while referencing between description components and situation components is called 'CLASSIFIES'. 'SETTING-FOR' is a referencing relation between a situation and the entities in its setting (it was formerly a constitution relation, but since situation appear to be social objects from the DOLCE viewpoint, the constitution solution is no more applicable). 'EXPRESSES' is bound to information objects and the meaning (description of a representation or conceptualization) in which they are involved. 'REALIZED-BY' is bound to information objects and physical representations that are used to communicate them, e…
sub property of: immediate-relation-i
range: non-physical-object
domain: particular
inverse of: references

references
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation holding between non-physical objects and entities whatsoever (thus including non-physical objects themselves). An intuition for the references relation could be that a non-physical object adds 'information' to an entity. In fact, non-physical objects depend on a communication setting. In most cases, this is the characteristic relation that provides a unity criterion to objects, events, etc. For example, cars are objects and not mere aggregates because there is a project, a design, a social value, a functional structure, a personal emotional structure, etc. attached to them. This attachment can be represented by means of 'non-physical objects' that 'reference' cars. The most obvious application is for situations, which do not exist without a description, although they still are extensional entities: a situation without a part is no more the same situation, but a situation is not a mere aggregate, since it has references to a description as its unity criterion. Adding information to an entity can also be thought as an intentional solution to a holistic stance. Defenders of this view -within different frameworks- are Kant, Brentano, Husserl, Gestalt psychologists, Merleau-Ponty ... References is distinguished according to the kinds of non-physical objects and referenced ground entities: referencing between descriptions and situations is called 'SATISFIED-BY', while referencing between description components and situation components is called 'CLASSIFIES'. 'SETTING-FOR' is a referencing relation between situation and the entities in its setting (it was formerly a constitution relation, but since situation appear to be social objects from the DOLCE viewpoint, the constitution solution is no more applicable). 'EXPRESSES' is bound to information objects and the meaning (description of a representation or conceptualization) in which they are involved. 'REALIZED-BY' is bound to information objects and physical representations that are used to communicate them, etc…
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: non-physical-object
range: particular

refines
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Concepts and figures can be refined by adding components, e.g. an elementary task can become complex, a complex task can increase its complexity, maximal tasks can be composed, etc.A description gets expanded if one of the concepts or figures it uses are refined.Refinement applies also to collections, situations, and information objects.Descriptions are refined by adding component descriptions.
sub property of: proper-part
inverse of: refined-by
domain: social-object
range: social-object

regulates
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A regulation states reified conditions on how a situation should look like. Regulations are mostly taken as descriptions for the social world.
domain: regulation
sub property of: satisfied-by
range: situation

requisite
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Requisites are constraints over the attributes of entities. Within DnS, a requisite-for relation holds between parameters (that bound regions to certain value ranges), and either roles, figures or courses. When a situation satisfies a description with parameters, endurants and perdurants in the situation must have attributes that range within the boundaries stated by parameters (in DOLCE terms, entities must have qualities that are mapped to certain value ranges of regions).
sub property of: immediate-relation-i
range: parameter
inverse of: requisite-for
domain: Class
  union of: course
  union of: figure
  union of: information-object
  union of: role

requisite-for
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Requisites are constraints over the attributes of entities. Within DnS, a requisite-for relation holds between parameters (that bound regions to certain value ranges), and either roles, figures or courses. When a situation satisfies a description with parameters, endurants and perdurants in the situation must have attributes that range within the boundaries stated by parameters (in DOLCE terms, entities must have qualities that are mapped to certain value ranges of regions).
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: parameter
range: Class
  union of: course
  union of: figure
  union of: information-object
  union of: role

right-to
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation between a role and a right allowance towards some function/task.This is dispositional, and implies that a participation classified by this relation is a 'righteous participation'.
sub property of: attitude-towards
range: task
domain: Class
  union of: agent-driven-role
  union of: agentive-figure

satisfied-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: See also comment on 'satisfies' for a different explanation.This is the primitive relation between descriptions and situations. It can be understood as a reification of the 'satisfiability' relation of formal semantics that holds between theories and models. A theory is reified as a description, thus acquiring a life-cycle: a theory can be changed, versioned, discussed, issued, etc. 'Theory' can be a 'potential' theory in the sense that most conceptualizations that could be formalized, could also be reified, e.g. plans, norms, stories, projects, diagnoses, methods, etc. No position is taken on the extensionality of descriptions. For example, if a theory is required to be reified in fine detail, if it changes an axiom, it could be considered no more the same theory. On the other hand, if theories are reified without such a strong assumption, some axioms can be changed just like non-essential parts of physical objects, with the theory preserving its identity.In case a theory is considered extensional, it might be considered a member of a class of 'theory changing history'. The 'refines' relation provides this possibility.A model is reified as a situation, thus a *class* of models that can satisfy a theory is reified as a situation type (class). Situations can depend on descriptions, but not vice-versa (constructivist stance). Components of descriptions 'classify' entities of situations.There are at least three satisfaction subrelations, and a lot of conditions can be stated for allowing an automatic matching of satisfaction. See the FOL version of DLP for details.
domain: description
sub property of: intensionally-references
inverse of: satisfies
range: situation

satisfies
type: ObjectProperty
comment: See 'satisfied-by'.
range: description
sub property of: intensionally-referenced-by
domain: situation

sequences
type: ObjectProperty
comment: This is the immediate relation between courses and perdurants. A course can be either atomic, being a simple 'perdurant role', or it can be complex, thus creating an abstract ordering over a temporal or causal sequence of processes or actions. The ontology of plans develops in detail intentional complex courses.
range: perdurant
sub property of: classifies
domain: course
inverse of: sequenced-by

setting-for
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The relation between a situation and the entities that are referenced by it. (At least some of, or all) such entities must be classified by concepts defined by the description that the situation is supposed to satisfy.
range: particular
sub property of: references
domain: situation

situation-place
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A highly mediated relation used to talk of the endurant(s) that is roughly associated to the regions in which the constituents of a situation are located. The locator endurant is supposed to be a situation constituent on its own.
range: endurant
domain: situation
inverse of: situation-place-of
sub property of: approximate-location

specialized-by
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Specialization as reification of a partial-order relation between type- or set-reified social objects, i.e. descriptions, concepts, and collections.For example, concepts that are apparently classified by other concepts; e.g. a manager that plays the role of buyer, where the role manager actually specializes the role buyer. Descriptions can be specialized by other descriptions that specialize their concepts. For descriptions, an intention to specialize must be present (unless purely formal theories are considered, but even in this case a criterion of relevance is usually active). Specialization does not imply expansion (proper part) for descriptions. If there exists a concept that is defined by the specialized description, which is not d-used in the specializing one, the second only specializes a part of the first. If there exists a concept that is defined by the specializing description, which is not d-used by the specialized one, the first both specializes and expands the second.
sub property of: immediate-relation-i
inverse of: specializes
range: Class
  union of: collection
  union of: concept
  union of: description
domain: Class
  union of: collection
  union of: concept
  union of: description

specializes
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Specialization as reification of a partial-order relation between social objects. For example, concepts that are apparently classified by other concepts; e.g. a manager that plays the role of buyer, where the role manager actually specializes the role buyer. Descriptions can be specialized by other descriptions that specialize their concepts or figures. For descriptions, an intention to specialize must be present (unless purely formal theories are considered, but even in this case a criterion of relevance is usually active). Specialization does not imply expansion (proper part) for descriptions. If there exists a concept that is defined by the specialized description, which is not d-used in the specializing one, the second only specializes a part of the first. If there exists a concept that is defined by the specializing description, which is not d-used by the specialized one, the first both specializes and expands the second.
sub property of: immediate-relation
range: Class
  union of: collection
  union of: concept
  union of: description
domain: Class
  union of: collection
  union of: concept
  union of: description

successor
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: To be understood as 'entity x has successor y'. Succession does not exclude connection, but it excludes overlapping. It can be direct or indirect, and assumes a choice (temporal, spatial, abstract, etc.) Cf. the cognitive 'path' schema. This is the transitive version.
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: particular
range: particular
inverse of: predecessor

temporary-component
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Being component at time t. It holds for endurants only. This is important to model components that can change or be lost over time without affecting the identity of the whole.
domain: endurant
range: endurant
sub property of: temporary-proper-part
sub property of: component
inverse of: temporary-component-of

unifies
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Based on characterizing roles, collections specifically depend on some description.We can therefore build a new relation of unification between collections and the descriptions on which they depend. Unification is axiomatized by means of sufficient conditions, and is not temporalized, since changing the description (differently from changing some members) creates a new collection.
range: collection
domain: description
sub property of: references

uses
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The use relations between endurants: an endurant e1 uses e2 within a perdurant in which both are participating. A rule then states that if e1 uses e2, e2 is used *in* a perdurant.
range: endurant
domain: endurant
sub property of: co-participates-with
inverse of: used-by

value-for
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The "selected by" relations holding between regions and parameters. At least one region is supposed to be a value for a parameter.
domain: region
sub property of: classified-by
range: parameter
inverse of: valued-by

approximate-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A spatial location relation holding between any two entities but regions. It assumes a mereotopological association (part, connection, overlaps, etc.) between shared spatial regions.
sub property of: generic-location
domain: spatio-temporal-particular
range: spatio-temporal-particular
inverse of: approximate-location-of

d-spatial-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Analytical indirect location holding between non-physical endurants and space regions.
sub property of: exact-location
domain: non-physical-endurant
range: space-region
inverse of: d-spatial-location-of

descriptive-origin
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Original location of an endurant in a non-physical one. It assumes a shared region between the first and the depend-on of the second (see descriptive place).
domain: endurant
range: non-physical-endurant
inverse of: descriptive-origin-of
sub property of: descriptive-place

descriptive-place
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Approximate location of an endurant in a non-physical one. It assumes a shared region.AKA fiat-place.
domain: endurant
range: non-physical-endurant
sub property of: approximate-location

material-place
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation of approximate location holding for physical endurants. It assumes a physical region that is shared by two physical endurants. Sharedness can be any mereotopological association, but no analytical definition can be done in OWL due to the lack of role value maps.
range: physical-endurant
domain: physical-endurant
sub property of: place

origin
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The physical 'origin' of a physical endurant in the space region of the spatial quality of another physical endurant.
domain: physical-endurant
range: physical-endurant
sub property of: material-place
inverse of: origin-of

p-spatial-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Analytical indirect location holding between perdurants and space regions.
sub property of: exact-location
domain: perdurant
range: space-region
inverse of: p-spatial-location-of

participant-place
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The place of a perdurant as provided by a reference region at which the spatial quality of a certain endurant is q-located.
range: endurant
domain: perdurant
sub property of: approximate-location
inverse of: participant-place-of

place
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A relation of approximate location holding between any endurant and physical endurants. It assumes a shared physical region. Sharedness can be any mereotopological association, but no analytical definition can be done in OWL due to the lack of role value maps.
domain: endurant
range: physical-endurant
sub property of: approximate-location
inverse of: place-of

spatial-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Analytical location holding between physical endurants and spatial regions.
domain: physical-endurant
sub property of: physical-location
range: space-region
inverse of: spatial-location-of

concludes
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A last part of a perdurant (any part that includes the 'final' boundary, but not the 'initial' one.
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant
sub property of: temporally-included-in

e-temporal-location
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Analytical indirect location holding between endurants and temporal regions.
domain: endurant
sub property of: exact-location
range: temporal-region
inverse of: e-temporal-location-of

meets
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Temporal connection between perdurants: p1 ending part is connected to p2 beginning part.
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant
sub property of: temporally-connected

precedes
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: Temporal precedence between two perdurants. No further dependence is implied (e.g. mereological, causal).
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant
inverse of: follows
sub property of: temporal-relation

present-at
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Presence is axiomatized as being temporally located in a part of one's life.
domain: endurant
range: time-interval
sub property of: e-temporal-location
inverse of: time-of-presence-of

starts
type: ObjectProperty
comment: A beginning part of a perdurant (any part that includes the 'initial' boundary, but not the 'final' one.
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant
inverse of: started-by
sub property of: temporally-included-in

temporal-relation
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Any mediated relation that composes temporal locations of perdurants with mereotopological relations between those locations.Mereotopological relations are those specified in the J. Allen's theory of time intervals.
sub property of: mediated-relation
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant

temporally-coincides
type: ObjectProperty
comment: AKA 'co-occurs'. Temporal coincidence between perdurants.
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant
sub property of: temporal-relation

temporally-connected
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Having a common atomic temporal location.
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant
sub property of: temporal-relation

temporally-includes
type: ObjectProperty
type: TransitiveProperty
comment: All temporal locations of perdurant x are also temporal locations of perdurant y.
domain: perdurant
range: perdurant
sub property of: temporal-relation

temporally-overlaps
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Temporal overlap: having a (partly) common temporal location.
range: perdurant
domain: perdurant
sub property of: temporal-relation

abstract
type: Class
subclass of: particular
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: Class
    complement of: spatial-location q
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: Class
    complement of: temporal-location q
disjoint with: endurant
disjoint with: perdurant
disjoint with: quality
comment: The main characteristic of abstract entities is that they do not have spatial nor temporal qualities, and they are not qualities themselves. The only class of abstract entities we consider in the present version of the upper ontology is that of quality regions (or simply regions). Quality spaces are special kinds of quality regions, being mereological sums of all the regions related to a certain quality type. The other examples of abstract entities (sets and facts) are only indicative.

abstract-quality
type: Class
subclass of: quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: inherent-in
  some values from: non-physical-endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: abstract-quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: q-location
  all values from: abstract-region
disjoint with: physical-quality
disjoint with: temporal-quality
comment: A quality inherent in a non-physical endurant.

abstract-region
type: Class
subclass of: region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: abstract-region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: q-location-of
  all values from: abstract-quality
disjoint with: physical-region
disjoint with: temporal-region
comment: A region at which only abstract qualities can be directly located. It assumes some metrics for abstract (neither physical nor temporal) properties.

accomplishment
type: Class
subclass of: event
comment: Eventive occurrences (events) are called achievements if they are atomic, otherwise they are accomplishments.Further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be seen as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (collapsing the time interval of the erosion into a time point), as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another).In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift from one aspect to another: a) causation focus, b) effectual focus, c) condensation d) transition (causality).

achievement
type: Class
subclass of: event
comment: Eventive occurrences (events) are called achievements if they are atomic, otherwise they are accomplishments.Further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be seen as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (collapsing the time interval of the erosion into a time point), as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another).In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift from one aspect to another: a) causation focus, b) effectual focus, c) condensation d) transition (causality).

amount-of-matter
type: Class
subclass of: physical-endurant
disjoint with: feature
disjoint with: physical-object
comment: The common trait of amounts of matter is that they are endurants with no unity (according to Gangemi et a. 2001 none of them is an essential whole). Amounts of matter - 'stuffs' referred to by mass nouns like 'gold', 'iron', 'wood', 'sand', 'meat', etc. - are mereologically invariant, in the sense that they change their identity when they change some parts.

arbitrary-sum
type: Class
subclass of: endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  some values from: endurant
disjoint with: non-physical-endurant
disjoint with: physical-endurant
comment: AKA arbitrary-collection.The mereological sum of any two or more endurants (physical or not). Arbitrary sums have no unity criterion (they are 'extensional').

dependent-place
type: Class
subclass of: feature
comment: A feature that is not part of its host, like a hole in a piece of cheese, the underneath of a table, the front of a house, or the shadow of a tree.

endurant
type: Class
subclass of: spatio-temporal-particular
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specific-constant-constituent
  all values from: endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: participant-in
  some values from: perdurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: endurant
disjoint with: perdurant
disjoint with: quality
comment: The main characteristic of endurants is that all of them are independent essential wholes. This does not mean that the corresponding property (being an endurant) carries proper unity, since there is no common unity criterion for endurants. Endurants can 'genuinely' change in time, in the sense that the very same endurant as a whole can have incompatible properties at different times. To see this, suppose that an endurant - say 'this paper' - has a property at a time t 'it's white', and a different, incompatible property at time t' 'it's yellow': in both cases we refer to the whole object, without picking up any particular part of it. Within endurants, we distinguish between physical and non-physical endurants, according to whether they have direct spatial qualities. Within physical endurants, we distinguish between amounts of matter, objects, and features.

event
type: Class
subclass of: perdurant
comment: An occurrence-type is stative or eventive according to whether it holds of the mereological sum of two of its instances, i.e. if it is cumulative or not. A sitting occurrence is stative since the sum of two sittings is still a sitting occurrence.In general, events differ from situations because they are not assumed to have a description from which they depend. They can be sequenced by some course, but they do not require a description as a unifying criterion.On the other hand, at any time, one can conceive a description that asserts the constraints by which an event of a certian type is such, and in this case, it becomes a situation.Since the decision of designing an explicit description that unifies a perdurant depends on context, task, interest, application, etc., when aligning an ontology do DLP, there can be indecision on where to align an event-oriented class. For example, in the WordNet alignment, we have decided to put only some physical events under 'event', e.g. 'discharge', in order to stress the social orientedness of DLP. But whereas we need to talk explicitly of the criteria by which we conceive discharge events, these will be put under 'situation'.Similar considerations are made for the other types of perdurants in DOLCE.A different notion of event (dealing with change) is currently investigated for further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be conceptualized as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (if we collapse the time interval of the erosion into a time point), or as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another).In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift from one aspect to another: a) causation…

feature
type: Class
subclass of: physical-endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: host
  some values from: physical-endurant
disjoint with: physical-object
comment: Features are 'parasitic entities', that exist insofar their host exists. Typical examples of features are holes, bumps, boundaries, or spots of color. Features may be relevant parts of their host, like a bump or an edge, or dependent regions like a hole in a piece of cheese, the underneath of a table, the front of a house, or the shadow of a tree, which are not parts of their host. All features are essential wholes, but no common unity criterion may exist for all of them. However, typical features have a topological unity, as they are singular entities.Here only features of physical endurants are considered.

non-physical-endurant
type: Class
subclass of: endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: abstract-quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: non-physical-endurant
disjoint with: physical-endurant
comment: An endurant with no mass, generically constantly depending on some agent. Non-physical endurants can have physical constituents (e.g. in the case of members of a collection).

non-physical-object
type: Class
subclass of: non-physical-endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: non-physical-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: generically-dependent-on
  some values from: physical-endurant
comment: Formerly known as description. A unitary endurant with no mass (non-physical), generically constantly depending on some agent, on some communication act, and indirectly on some agent participating in that act. Both descriptions (in the now current sense) and concepts are non-physical objects.

particular
type: Class
comment: AKA 'entity'.Any individual in the DOLCE domain of discourse. The extensional coverage of DOLCE is as large as possible, since it ranges on 'possibilia', i.e all possible individuals that can be postulated by means of DOLCE axioms. Possibilia include physical objects, substances, processes, qualities, conceptual regions, non-physical objects, collections and even arbitrary sums of objects.The class 'particular' features a covering partition that includes: endurant, perdurant, quality, and abstract. There are also some subclasses defined as unions of subclasses of 'particular' for special purposes: spatio-temporal-particular (any particular except abstracts)- physical-realization (any realization of an information object, defined in the ExtendedDnS ontology).

perdurant
type: Class
subclass of: spatio-temporal-particular
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: temporal-quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: participant
  some values from: endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  some values from: temporal-location q
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: perdurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specific-constant-constituent
  all values from: perdurant
disjoint with: quality
comment: Perdurants (AKA occurrences) comprise what are variously called events, processes, phenomena, activities and states. They can have temporal parts or spatial parts. For instance, the first movement of (an execution of) a symphony is a temporal part of the symphony. On the other hand, the play performed by the left side of the orchestra is a spatial part. In both cases, these parts are occurrences themselves. We assume that objects cannot be parts of occurrences, but rather they participate in them. Perdurants extend in time by accumulating different temporal parts, so that, at any time they are present, they are only partially present, in the sense that some of their proper temporal parts (e.g., their previous or future phases) may be not present. E.g., the piece of paper you are reading now is wholly present, while some temporal parts of your reading are not present yet, or any more. Philosophers say that endurants are entities that are in time, while lacking temporal parts (so to speak, all their parts flow with them in time). Perdurants, on the contrary, are entities that happen in time, and can have temporal parts (all their parts are fixed in time).

physical-endurant
type: Class
subclass of: endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specific-constant-constituent
  all values from: physical-endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  some values from: physical-quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  some values from: spatial-location q
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: physical-quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: physical-endurant
comment: An endurant having a direct physical (at least spatial) quality.

physical-object
type: Class
subclass of: physical-endurant
comment: The main characteristic of physical objects is that they are endurants with unity. However, they have no common unity criterion, since different subtypes of objects may have different unity criteria. Differently from aggregates, (most) physical objects change some of their parts while keeping their identity, they can have therefore temporary parts. Often physical objects (indeed, all endurants) are ontologically independent from occurrences (discussed below). However, if we admit that every object has a life, it is hard to exclude a mutual specific constant dependence between the two. Nevertheless, we may still use the notion of dependence to (weakly) characterize objects as being not specifically constantly dependent on other objects.

physical-quality
type: Class
subclass of: quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: inherent-in
  some values from: physical-endurant
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: q-location
  all values from: physical-region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: physical-quality
disjoint with: temporal-quality
comment: A quality inherent in a physical endurant.

physical-region
type: Class
subclass of: region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: physical-region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: q-location-of
  all values from: physical-quality
disjoint with: temporal-region
comment: A region at which only physical qualities can be directly located. It assumes some metrics for physical properties.

process
type: Class
subclass of: stative
comment: Within stative occurrences, we distinguish between states and processes according to homeomericity: sitting is classified as a state but running is classified as a process, since there are (very short) temporal parts of a running that are not themselves runnings. In general, processes differ from situations because they are not assumed to have a description from which they depend. They can be sequenced by some course, but they do not require a description as a unifying criterion. On the other hand, at any time, one can conceive a description that asserts the constraints by which a process of a certian type is such, and in this case, it becomes a situation. Since the decision of designing an explicit description that unifies a perdurant depends on context, task, interest, application, etc., when aligning an ontology do DLP, there can be indecision on where to align a process-oriented class. For example, in the WordNet alignment, we have decided to put only some physical processes under 'process', e.g. 'organic process', in order to stress the social orientedness of DLP. But whereas we need to talk explicitly of the criteria by which we conceive organic processes, these will be put under 'situation'. Similar considerations are made for the other types of perdurants in DOLCE. A different notion of event (dealing with change) is currently investigated for further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be conceptualized as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (if we collapse the time interval of the erosion into a time point), or as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another). In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift …

proposition
type: Class
subclass of: abstract
comment: The abstract content of a proposition. Abstract content is purely combinatorial: from this viewpoint, any content that can be generated by means of combinatorial rules is assumed to exist in the domain of quantification (reified abstracts).

quale
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: region
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: atomic-part-of
    some values from: region
comment: An atomic region.

quality
type: Class
subclass of: spatio-temporal-particular
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: inherent-in
  some values from: particular
comment: Qualities can be seen as the basic entities we can perceive or measure: shapes, colors, sizes, sounds, smells, as well as weights, lengths, electrical charges... 'Quality' is often used as a synonymous of 'property', but this is not the case in this upper ontology: qualities are particulars, properties are universals. Qualities inhere to entities: every entity (including qualities themselves) comes with certain qualities, which exist as long as the entity exists.

quality-space
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: region
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: overlaps
    all values from: Class
      complement of: quality-space
comment: A quality space is a topologically maximal region. The constraint of maximality cannot be given completely in OWL, but a constraint is given that creates a partition out of all quality spaces (e.g. no two quality spaces can overlap mereologically).

region
type: Class
subclass of: abstract
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: region
comment: We distinguish between a quality (e.g., the color of a specific rose), and its value (e.g., a particular shade of red). The latter is called quale, and describes the position of an individual quality within a certain conceptual space (called here quality space) Gardenfors (2000). So when we say that two roses have (exactly) the same color, we mean that their color qualities, which are distinct, have the same position in the color space, that is they have the same color quale.

relevant-part
type: Class
subclass of: feature
comment: Features that are relevant parts of their host, like a bump or an edge.

set
type: Class
subclass of: abstract
comment: A mathematical set.

space-region
type: Class
subclass of: physical-region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: q-location-of
  all values from: spatial-location q
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: space-region
comment: An ordinary space: geographical, cosmological, anatomical, topographic, etc.

spatial-location q
type: Class
subclass of: physical-quality
comment: A physical quality, q-located in (whose value is given within) ordinary spaces (geographical coordinates, cosmological positions, anatomical axes, etc.).

spatio-temporal-particular
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: particular
  intersection of: Class
    union of: endurant
    union of: perdurant
    union of: quality
comment: Dummy class for optimizing some property universes. It includes all entities that are not reifications of universals ('abstracts'), i.e. those entities that are in space-time.

spatio-temporal-region
type: Class
subclass of: space-region
comment: Any region resulting from the composition of a space region with a temporal region, i.e. being present in region r at time t.

state
type: Class
subclass of: stative
comment: Within stative occurrences, we distinguish between states and processes according to homeomericity: sitting is classified as a state but running is classified as a process, since there are (very short) temporal parts of a running that are not themselves runnings.In general, states differ from situations because they are not assumed to have a description from which they depend. They can be sequenced by some course, but they do not require a description as a unifying criterion.On the other hand, at any time, one can conceive a description that asserts the constraints by which a state of a certian type is such, and in this case, it becomes a situation.Since the decision of designing an explicit description that unifies a perdurant depends on context, task, interest, application, etc., when aligning an ontology do DLP, there can be indecision on where to align a state-oriented class. For example, in the WordNet alignment, we have decided to put only some physical states under 'state', e.g. 'turgor', in order to stress the social orientedness of DLP. But whereas we need to talk explicitly of the criteria by which we conceive turgor states, these will be put under 'situation'.Similar considerations are made for the other types of perdurants in DOLCE.A different notion of event (dealing with change) is currently investigated for further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be conceptualized as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (if we collapse the time interval of the erosion into a time point), or as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another).In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift from one aspect to another: a) …

stative
type: Class
subclass of: perdurant
comment: An occurrence-type is stative or eventive according to whether it holds of the mereological sum of two of its instances, i.e. if it is cumulative or not. A sitting occurrence is stative since the sum of two sittings is still a sitting occurrence.

temporal-location q
type: Class
subclass of: temporal-quality
comment: A temporal location quality.

temporal-quality
type: Class
subclass of: quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: q-location
  all values from: temporal-region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has-quality
  all values from: temporal-quality
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: inherent-in
  some values from: perdurant
comment: A quality inherent in a perdurant.

temporal-region
type: Class
subclass of: region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: temporal-region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: q-location-of
  all values from: temporal-quality
comment: A region at which only temporal qualities can be directly located. It assumes a metrics for time.

time-interval
type: Class
subclass of: temporal-region
comment: A temporal region, measured according to a calendar.

action
type: Class
subclass of: accomplishment
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: participant
  some values from: agent
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: generically-dependent-on
  some values from: cognitive-state
comment: A Perdurant that exemplifies the intentionality of an agent. Could it be aborted, incomplete, mislead, while remaining a (potential) accomplishment ... The point here is that having a result depends on a method, then an action remains an action under incomplete results. As a matter of fact, if we neutralize intentionality, a purely topological, post-hoc view is at odds with the notion of incomplete accomplishments.

activity
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: action
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: generically-dependent-on
    some values from: plan
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: part
    some values from: action
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: sequenced-by
    some values from: task
comment: In dependency terms, an activity is an action that is generically constantly dependent on a (at least partly) shared plan adopted by participants. This condition implies that an action must be sequenced by a task.Intuitively, activities are complex actions that are at least partly conventionally planned.

agent
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: endurant
  intersection of: Class
    union of: agentive-physical-object
    union of: agentive-social-object
comment: A catch-all class used to join agentive objects (either physical or social). Agents are dispositionally so, in the sense that they internally represent descriptions, and in particular plans, goals and possible actions, but they do not necessarily act. In everyday language, agent is used in this sense, but also to tell that something has acted in a certain way, or to say that something has an initiator or leading role in some action. In DLP, the performs relation encodes these notions.

agent-driven-role
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: role
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: played-by
    all values from: agent
comment: AKA Agentive-role.A role that can only be played by agents.

agentive-figure
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: agentive-social-object
  intersection of: figure
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: defined-by
    some values from: constitutive-description
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: hypostasis-of
    some values from: particular
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: plays
    some values from: role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: refined-by
  all values from: agentive-figure
comment: Agentive figures are those which are assigned (agentive) roles from a society or community; hence, they can act like a physical agent. Typical agentive figures are societies, organizations, and in general all socially constructed persons. Agentive figures are not dependent on roles defined or used in the same descriptions they are defined or used, but they can act because they depute some powers to some of those roles. In other words, a figure classified by some agentive role can play that role because there are other roles in the descriptions that define or use the figure. Those roles classifies endurants that result to act for the figure. For example, an employee acts for an organization that deputes the role (e.g. turner) that classifies the employee. Simply put, a guy working as a turner at FIAT acts for (or on behalf of) FIAT. In complex figures, like organizations or companies, a total agency is possible when an endurant plays a delegate or representative role of the figure. Since figures are social objects, it is conceivable to find agentive figures that act for other agentive figures.

agentive-physical-object
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: physical-object
  intersection of: agent
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: internally-represents
    some values from: plan
disjoint with: non-agentive-physical-object
comment: Within Physical objects, a special place have those to which we ascribe generic intentionality (compatibly to Brentano's distinction, the ability to internally represent a description). These are called Agentive, as opposite to Non-agentive. In general, we assume that agentive objects are constituted by non-agentive objects: an organism is constituted by bodily organs, a robot is constituted by some machinery, and so on. Among non-agentive physical objects we have for example houses, bodily organs, pieces of wood, etc. Generic agentivity is defined here in a wide sense as implying representation or conception (to be characterized in a dedicated - but not developed as yet - ontology of mind). A representation or conception only requires intentionality in Brentano's terms (i.e., the ability to represent something to oneself). See also 'rational physical object'.

agentive-social-object
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: agent
  intersection of: social-object
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: internally-represents
    some values from: plan
disjoint with: non-agentive-social-object
comment: A social object that is assumed to internally represent a plan. Since social objects are dependent on physical ones, it is not trivial to interpret the local sense in which a social object 'internally represents' a plan. For example, an institution can have the plan to promote or regulate some activities, but this is possible by means of the powers conferred to it by some legal system, through its representatives, and that plan has to be executed by means of the physical agents that 'act for' the institution.

cognitive-event
type: Class
subclass of: event
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: total-constant-participant
  some values from: agentive-physical-object
comment: An event occurring in the (embodied) mind.

cognitive-modal-description
type: Class
subclass of: modal-description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-uses
  some values from: Class
    intersection of: role
    intersection of: Restriction
      on property: attitude-towards
      some values from: task
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-uses
  some values from: task
comment: The modal descriptions depending on some mental attitude, represented here by means of a relation between roles and tasks.

cognitive-state
type: Class
subclass of: state
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: total-constant-participant
  some values from: agentive-physical-object
comment: A state of the (embodied) mind

collection
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: non-agentive-social-object
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: covered-by
    some values from: role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: refined-by
  all values from: collection
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specialized-by
  all values from: collection
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: unified-by
  some values from: description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: collection
disjoint with: concept
disjoint with: description
disjoint with: figure
disjoint with: information-object
disjoint with: non-agentive-figure
disjoint with: situation
comment: Collections are social objects which, although not defined by a description, depend both on member entities and on some concepts or figures, hence indirectly on descriptions. While we could talk in general of collections of any kind of entities (events, objects, abstracts, etc.), we restrict here our attention to collections of endurants, and to the concepts that classify them (i.e. roles).

collective
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: collection
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: member
    all values from: agent
comment: A collection with only agents as members.

communication-event
type: Class
subclass of: accomplishment
comment: Here communication is taken in a rather wide sense, being possible as an (intentional) activity as well as a phenomenon.

concept
type: Class
subclass of: non-agentive-social-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: concept
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: refined-by
  all values from: concept
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specialized-by
  all values from: concept
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: defined-by
  some values from: description
disjoint with: description
disjoint with: information-object
disjoint with: non-agentive-figure
disjoint with: situation
comment: AKA C-Description. A non-physical object that is defined by a description s, and whose function is classifying entities from a ground ontology in order to build situations that can satisfy s.

constitutive-description
type: Class
subclass of: description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: defines
  some values from: Class
    union of: figure
    union of: role
comment: A description whose purpose is defining a figure.

course
type: Class
subclass of: concept
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: course
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specialized-by
  some values from: course
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: defined-by
  some values from: description
disjoint with: parameter
disjoint with: role
comment: A concept that classifies (in particular, it 'sequences') perdurants (processes, events, or states), as a component of some description. Courses are the descriptive counterpart of perdurants, and, since perdurants have endurants as participants, they are usually the function of some role.

description
type: Class
subclass of: non-agentive-social-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: internally-represented-in
  some values from: agentive-physical-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-uses
  some values from: Class
    union of: concept
    union of: figure
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specialized-by
  all values from: description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: expressed-by
  some values from: information-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: refined-by
  all values from: description
disjoint with: information-object
disjoint with: non-agentive-figure
disjoint with: situation
comment: A description is a social object which represents a conceptualization (e.g. a mental object or state), hence it is generically dependent on some agent and communicable. Descriptions define or use concepts or figures, are expressed by an information object and can be satisfied by situations. The typology of descriptions is still preliminary.

description-role
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: role
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: played-by
    all values from: description
comment: A role played by descriptions only. Usable for metalinguistic notions, like those that deal with granular partitions of knowledge, strata of reality, argumentation, etc.

desire
type: Class
subclass of: cognitive-modal-description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: internally-represented-in
  some values from: agent
comment: Desires are characterized here as modal description dependent on the cognitive (or 'mental') states of an agent. It is difficult to say more than that without reusing an ontology of cognitive states.Informally: a desire is a description that involves some (possible or actual) 'desire towards' attitude by an agent, and is ultimately motivated by evolutionary features of an organism (or by built-in features if the agent is artificial), which are (or used to be) an advantage for it.

figure
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: social-object
  intersection of: Class
    union of: agentive-figure
    union of: non-agentive-figure
disjoint with: information-object
disjoint with: situation
comment: a.k.a. 'social individual'. Figures are social objects defined or used by descriptions, but differently from concepts, they do not classify entities. Examples of figures are organizations, political-geographic objects, sacred symbols, etc.

flux
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: process
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: specific-constant-constituent
    some values from: accomplishment
comment: Fluxes are processes that (also) contain accomplishments as constituents. In other words, fluxes emerge out of accomplishments.

gestalt
type: Class
subclass of: theory
comment: A perceptual structure, from the descriptive viewpoint. In other words, this encodes the conditions by which a configuration, structure, or arrangement is perceived as a meaningful whole by a perceiving agent.

goal
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: desire
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: proper-part-of
    some values from: method
comment: We are proposing here a restrictive notion of goal that relies upon its desirability by some agent, which does not necessarily play a role in the execution of the plan the goal is a part of. For example, an agent can have an attitude towards some task defined in a plan, e.g. duty towards, which is different from desiring it (desire towards). We might say that a goal is usually desired by the creator or beneficiary of a plan. The minimal constraint for a goal is that it is a proper part of a plan.For example, a desire to start a relationship can become a goal if someone takes action (or lets someone else take it for her sake) to obtain it.

indicator
type: Class
subclass of: parameter
comment: A parameter valued by regions that are used asindicators for some behaviour or event to be checked.

information-encoding-system
type: Class
subclass of: description
comment: An information encoding system is a description that involves information objects. They can be divided into 1) axiomatic systems, which provide roles and operations to define formal descriptions (e.g. theories), 2) combinatorial systems, which provide roles and operations to create valid information objects (e.g. grammars), 3) classification systems, which are contexts of (ev. ordered) lists of information objects, and 4) informal encoding systems, which provide roles and operations to define informal descriptions (e.g. narratives).

information-object
type: Class
subclass of: non-agentive-social-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: ordered-by
  some values from: description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: information-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: realized-by
  some values from: physical-realization
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: refined-by
  all values from: information-object
disjoint with: non-agentive-figure
disjoint with: situation
comment: Information objects are social objects. They are realized by some entity. They are ordered (expressed according to) by some system for information encoding. Consequently, they are dependent from an encoding as well as from a concrete realization.They can express a description (the ontological equivalent of a meaning/conceptualization), can be about any entity, and can be interpreted by an agent.From a communication perspective, an information object can play the role of "message". From a semiotic perspective, it playes the role of "expression".

life-cycle
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: course
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: sequences
    all values from: Restriction
      on property: life-of
      some values from: endurant
comment: The course of events typical of the life of an object (kind).

logical-role
type: Class
subclass of: description-role
comment: A role used to express logical levels within some layering description or granular partition. A typical example is the Linnean taxonomic ordering, where Phylum or Species are hierarchical roles.

material-artifact
type: Class
subclass of: non-agentive-physical-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: proper-part
  some values from: Restriction
    on property: member-of
    some values from: Class
      intersection of: collection
      intersection of: Restriction
        on property: unified-by
        some values from: Class
comment: No easy definition of artifactual properties is possible, hence it is better to rely on alternative descriptions and roles: a physical object that shows or is known to have an artifactual origin that counts in the tasks an ontology is supposed to support, will be a material artifact. On the other hand, physical objects that do not show that origin, or that origin is unimportant for the task of the ontology, will be physical bodies. Formally, a restriction is provided here that requires that the collection whose members are (at least some of the) proper parts of a material artifact is *unified* by a plan or project.

method
type: Class
subclass of: description
comment: A description that contains a specification to do, realize, behave, etc. Subclasses are plan, technique, practice, project, etc.

modal-description
type: Class
subclass of: description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-uses
  some values from: Class
    intersection of: role
    intersection of: Restriction
      on property: modal-target
      some values from: course
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-uses
  some values from: course
comment: A modal description is any part of a description that has a unity criterion consisting in the specification of a modal target (some course), and it can be a right, power, duty, etc. Notice that modal descriptions can appear in conventionalized descriptions as well as in idiosyncratic assessements, narratives, promises, etc. From the formal semantic viewpoint, a modal description is the reification of a relation involving a modal logic operator.

non-agentive-figure
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: figure
  intersection of: non-agentive-social-object
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: defined-by
    some values from: constitutive-description
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: hypostasis-of
    some values from: particular
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: plays
    some values from: role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: refined-by
  all values from: non-agentive-figure
disjoint with: situation
comment: A tipology of non-agentive figures is currently under investigation.

non-agentive-physical-object
type: Class
subclass of: physical-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: internally-represents
  cardinality: 0
comment: Within Physical objects, a special place have those to which we ascribe intentions, beliefs, and desires. These are called Agentive, as opposite to Non-agentive. Intentionality is understood here as the capability of heading for/dealing with objects or states of the world. This is an important area of ontological investigation we haven't properly explored yet, so our suggestions are really very preliminary. A possible modelling of case roles has been started within the descriptions plugin that could be embedded within basic DOLCE. In general, we assume that agentive objects are constituted by non-agentive objects: an organism is constituted by bodily organs, a robot is constituted by some machinery, and so on. Among non-agentive physical objects we have for example houses, body organs, pieces of wood, etc.

non-agentive-social-object
type: Class
subclass of: social-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: internally-represents
  cardinality: 0
comment: A social object that is not assumed to internally represent a description. Since social objects are dependent on physical ones, it is not trivial to interpret the local sense in which a social object 'internally represents' a plan. See 'agentive-social-object' for some discussion.

parameter
type: Class
subclass of: concept
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: valued-by
  some values from: region
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: defined-by
  some values from: description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specialized-by
  all values from: parameter
disjoint with: role
comment: A concept that classifies (in particular, it is 'valued by') regions, as defined by some description. Parameters are the descriptive counterpart of regions, and, as regions represent the qualities of perdurants or endurants, they can be requisites for some role or course.A parameter has at least one region that is a value for it.

path
type: Class
subclass of: course
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: sequences
  some values from: phenomenon
comment: A course used to sequence phenomena (non-intentional processes).

phenomenon
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: accomplishment
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: specifically-constantly-dependent-on
    all values from: Class
      complement of: cognitive-state
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: sequenced-by
    all values from: Class
      complement of: task
comment: A phenomenon is basically a process that does not include any intentional active participation. Therefore, it cannot be sequenced by a task.It can be seen as an accomplishment when some intentionality puts boundaries on it (although it is not claimed to be inherently intentional). On the other hand, a purely physical phenomenon does not seem to have inherent boundaries either ... and also for biological processes as well as economic processes this seems to be disputable. If the boundary hypothesis is discarded, phenomenon should migrate under process.

physical-phenomenon
type: Class
subclass of: phenomenon
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: participant
  some values from: physical-endurant
comment: A phenomenon having a physical endurant as participant.

physical-realization
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: spatio-temporal-particular
  intersection of: Class
    union of: physical-endurant
    union of: physical-quality
    union of: Class
      intersection of: perdurant
      intersection of: Restriction
        on property: participant
        some values from: physical-endurant
    union of: Class
      intersection of: situation
      intersection of: Restriction
        on property: setting-for
        some values from: Class
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: realizes
    some values from: non-physical-object
comment: Any physical particular that realizes a non-physical endurant. Such physical particulars can be either physical endurants, physical qualities, physical regions, perdurants with at least one physical participant, or a situation with one physical entity in its setting.Ultimately, a physical realization depends on at least one physical endurant (each of the others physical entity types depend on a physical endurant to be considered as such).

plan
type: Class
subclass of: method
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-uses
  some values from: role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: proper-part
  some values from: goal
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-uses
  some values from: task
comment: A plan is a method for executing or performing a procedure or a stage of a procedure.A plan must use both at least one role played by an agent, and at least one task.Finally, a plan has a goal as proper part, and can also have regulations and other descriptions as proper parts.

practice
type: Class
subclass of: method
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: internally-represented-in
  some values from: agentive-social-object
comment: A social method carried out explicitly or by tradition, spontaneously emerged, or moderately or strongly regulated.

project
type: Class
subclass of: method
comment: A project is a proactively satisfied method. Differently from a plan, a project includes at least one 'product' role to be played by some endurant (e.g. a house), or one 'result' role played by a perdurant with a definite participant (e.g. a restored state of a house).

rational-agent
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: agent
  intersection of: Class
    union of: rational-physical-object
    union of: Class
      intersection of: agentive-social-object
      intersection of: Restriction
        on property: acted-by
        some values from: rational-physical-object
comment: Either a rational physical object (e.g. an animal capable of meta-representations), or a social object acted by a rational physical object (e.g. an organization).

rational-physical-object
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: agentive-physical-object
  intersection of: rational-agent
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: internally-represents
    some values from: Class
      intersection of: description
      intersection of: Restriction
        on property: involves
        some values from: description
comment: In this ontology, a rational object is encoded as having the ability to internally represent meta-descriptions (descriptions that have other descriptions playing roles used by them). Other theories of rational agency assume desires and intentions for these objects, but in principle any agent can have desires and intentions: the very difference seems to be the ability to choose among different desires or intentions by going 'meta-level'.

reconstructed-flux
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: flux
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: part
    all values from: accomplishment
comment: Reconstructed fluxes are fluxes that only contain accomplishments as members.

regulation
type: Class
subclass of: social-description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: proper-part
  some values from: cognitive-modal-description
comment: A description usually requiring a C-SAT satisfaction for a situation. Norms, codes of practice, etc. are examples.

relation
type: Class
subclass of: theory
comment: A non-social relation(ship): formal, linguistic, etc. It is considered here a theory, because relations are established in order to give an ordering to some reality.

role
type: Class
subclass of: concept
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: defined-by
  some values from: description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specialized-by
  all values from: role
comment: Also known as 'functional role'.A concept that classifies (in particular, it is 'played by') endurants, as used in some description. Roles are the descriptive counterpart of endurants, and, as endurants participate in perdurants, they usually have courses as modal targets (see).The typology of roles is still preliminary.

situation
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: non-agentive-social-object
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: satisfies
    some values from: description
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: setting-for
    some values from: particular
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: refined-by
  all values from: situation
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part
  all values from: situation
comment: A situation is a social object that appears in the domain of an ontology only because there is a description whose components can 'carve up' a view (setting) on that domain. A situation has to satisfy a description (see below for ways of defining the satisfies relation), and it has to be setting for at least one entity.In other words, it is the ontological counterpart (with due local differences or restrictions) of settings (situations from SC, contexts, episodes, states of affairs, structures, configurations, cases, etc.).A perdurant is usually the only mandatory constituent of a setting.Two descriptions of a same situation are possible, otherwise we would result in a solipsistic ontology. The time and space (and possibly other qualities) of a situation are the time and space of the perdurants in the setting.

social-description
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: description
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: generically-dependent-on
    some values from: collective
comment: Examples of Social Descriptions are laws, norms, shares, peace treaties, etc., which are generically dependent on societies.Social descriptions are dependent on a community of agents.

social-object
type: Class
subclass of: non-physical-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: generically-dependent-on
  some values from: communication-event
comment: A catch-all class for entities from the social world. It includes agentive and non-agentive socially-constructed objects: descriptions, concepts, figures, collections, information objects. It could be equivalent to 'non-physical object', but we leave the possibility open of 'private' non-physical objects.

social-relationship
type: Class
subclass of: social-description
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: involves
  some values from: rational-agent
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: involves
  min cardinality: 2
comment: A social description defining roles for the interaction of rational agents.

social-role
type: Class
subclass of: role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: generically-dependent-on
  some values from: collective
comment: A role created and maintained by a society.

status
type: Class
subclass of: agent-driven-role
subclass of: social-role
comment: A role that involves responsibility, e.g. both duties and rights, in order to perform some task. It usually involves additional rights and/or powers in contexts (descriptions) different from the one that defines the status.

symmetric-role
type: Class
subclass of: role
comment: A role played exactly by two objects at the same time, e.g.: brother, sibling.

task
type: Class
subclass of: course
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: defined-by
  some values from: method
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: specialized-by
  some values from: task
comment: A course used to sequence activities or other controllable perdurants (some states, processes), usually within methods. They must be defined by a method, but can be *used* by other kinds of descriptions. They are desire targets of some role played by an agent. Tasks can be complex, and ordered according to an abstract succession relation. Tasks can relate to ground activities or decision making; the last kind deals with typical flowchart content. A task is different both from a flowchart node, and from an action or action type.Tasks can be considered shortcuts for plans, since at least one role played by an agent has a desire attitude towards them (possibly different from the one that puts the task into action). In principle, tasks could be transformed into explicit plans.

technique
type: Class
subclass of: method
comment: A technique is a practical method to obtain some modification in the environment (or evaluation of an environment) that fulfils some task.

theory
type: Class
subclass of: description
comment: This is used in a wide cultural sense: a theory about something, expressed in a rather systematic way, but not necessarily public (although communicable in principle). An axiomatic theory is not a theory in this sense, although we can expect an axiomatic theory to be the formal representation of a generic theory.