barry smith information artifact ontology and aboutness 1

1

Barry Smith

Information Artifact Ontology and Aboutness

2

Shimon Edelman’s Riddle of Representation

two humans, a monkey, and a robotare looking at a piece of cheese;

what is common to the representational processes in their visual systems?

3

Answer:

The cheese, of course

4

The real cheese

5

the arrow of intentionality

± simple

mental process content (putative) target

presenting actcontent of presentation

“apple”object of presentation

judging act

judgment-content

“the apple over there is ripe”

state of affairsfact

evaluating actemotional act

appraisal…

“it is good that the apple over there is ripe”

?

mental process content target

you see an apple “apple” an apple

• you are in physical contact with target ― cf. Russell’s knowledge by acquaintance; J. J. Gibson’s ecological theory of perception

± relational intentionality

mental process content (putative) target

presenting actsensory content object of presentation

object exists

object does not exist

objectpresent

objectabsent

± perceptually filled

ordinary perception

mental process content (putative) target

presenting actsensory content object of presentation

object exists

object does not exist

objectpresent

objectabsent

perceptually filled does not imply veridical

hallucination

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple” + sensation originating causally at

target

object of presentation

object exists

object does not exist

objectpresent

objectabsent

the evolutionarily most basic case

ordinary perception

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple” + sensation originating causally at

target

object of presentation

object exists

object does not exist

objectpresent

objectabsent

relational implies veridical

ordinary perception

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”object of presentation

object exists

object does not exist

objectpresent

objectabsent

veridical does not imply relational

veridical thinking about

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”

object of presentation

object existsobject present

objectabsent

± content match

content match

“apple”

content match

“food”

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”

object of presentation

object existsobject present

objectabsent

veridical does not imply content match

content mismatch

“poison”

content mismatch

“apple”

content here not just a matter of language

still posson

mental process content target

you see an apple “apple” an apple

± linguistically mediated

A cat can see a kingA cat can see a mass spectrometer

mental process content there is no target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”underlying false belief

non-veridical intentionality is an untidy collection of non-canonical cases

the presenting act is dependent on an underlying belief or attitude of one or other deviant types

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”object

presentobjectabsent

non-veridical intentionality type 1. ontological error

hallucination, deception, …the presenting act is dependent on a false underlying belief

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”object

presentobjectabsent

non-veridical intentionality type 2. fiction

thinking-about-Macbeth = the presenting act is not dependent on an underlying false belief

“The Substitution Theory of Art”, Grazer Philosophische Studien, 25/26 (1986)

24

the primacy of language (Sellars …)mental experiences are about objects because words have

meaning

word / meaning

25

the primacy of the intentional (Brentano, Husserl, …):

linguistic expressions have meanings because there are (‘animating’) mental experiences which have aboutness

dimension of content / belief prior to dimension of language

language comes later than mental aboutness

27

How annotate this

28

or this?

29

or this?

30

Mental Functioning Ontology (Draft)

Mental Functioning Ontology (Draft)

with thanks to Janna Hastings and Kevin Mulligan Swiss Center for Affective Sciences)

Basic Formal Ontology

33

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:ProcessBFO:Independent Continuant

BFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

BFO:Disposition

Basic Formal Ontology and Mental Functioning Ontology (MFO)

34

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:Process

Organism

BFO:Independent Continuant

BFOMFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

Behaviour inducing state

Mental Functioning Related Anatomical

Structure

Cognitive Representation

BFO:Quality

Affective Representation

Mental Process

Bodily ProcessBFO:Disposition

Functions vs. FunctioningsContinuants vs. Occurrents

3535

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:Process

Organism

BFO:Independent Continuant

BFOMFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

Mental Function

Cognitive Representation

BFO:QualityMental Process

Bodily ProcessBFO:Disposition

Mental Functioning

Aboutness (‘Intentionality’)

36

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:Process

Organism

BFO:Independent Continuant

BFOMFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

Mental Function

Cognitive Representation

BFO:QualityMental Process

Bodily ProcessBFO:Disposition

Mental Functioning

does all mental functioning involve cognitive representation (aboutness)?

what is aboutness?

Extending the MFO• to linguistic competence and performance

37

Linguistic Functioning Ontology (1. Speech and hearing)

38

38

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:ProcessBFO:Independent Continuant

BFOMFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

Behaviour inducing state

Cognitive Representation

BFO:Quality

Speech-mediated cognitive

representation

Speech process

Bodily ProcessBFO:Disposition

Linguistic competence

Speech competence of a population

= a [spoken] languageSpeech competence of

an individual

Hearing (registering)

process

Linguistic Functioning Ontology (2. Reading and writing)

39

39

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:ProcessBFO:Independent Continuant

BFOMFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

Behaviour inducing state

Cognitive Representation

BFO:Quality

Written-language-mediated cognitive

representation

Writing process

Bodily ProcessBFO:Disposition

Linguistic competence

Written linguistic competence of a

population = a [written] language

Written linguistic competence of an

individual

Reading (registering)

process

Linguistic Functioning Ontology (the whole thing)

40

40

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:ProcessBFO:Independent Continuant

BFOMFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

Behaviour inducing state

Cognitive Representation

BFO:Quality

Language-mediated cognitive

representation

Writing

Bodily ProcessBFO:Disposition

Linguistic competence

Linguistic competence of a population

= a language Linguistic competence of an individual

Reading

Speaking

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”object

presentobjectabsent

non-veridical intentionality type 3. planning

Christmas present lists

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”object

presentobjectabsent

non-veridical intentionality type 4. daydreaming

Mental Functioning Ontology (MF)

44

braininendocrine

gland

Aboutness

45

brain retina

ENVI

RON

MEN

T

mental act about a real-world object

non-relational(~ linguistic)

relational(~ perception)

content match

content mismatch

content match

content mismatch

veridical non-veridical46

mental process content (putative) target

presenting act content of presentation

“apple”object of presentation

object exists

object does not exist

targetpresent

targetabsent

Veridical intentionality

ordinary perceptionevolutionarily most basic case

47

48

49

49

BFO:Entity

BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent

BFO:ProcessBFO:Independent Continuant

BFOMFO

BFO:Dependent Continuant

Behaviour inducing state

Cognitive Representation

BFO:Quality

Language-mediated cognitive

representation

Writing

Bodily ProcessBFO:Disposition

Linguistic competence

Linguistic competence of a population

= a language Linguistic competence of an individual

Reading

Speaking

what is a language? something analogous to a biological

species (a population of competences)