On What Goes On: The Ontology of Processes and Events

Antony Galton

In Brandon Bennett and Christiane Fellbaum (eds.), Formal Ontology in Information Systems: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (FOIS2006), IOS Press, 2006, pages 4-11
ISBN 1-58603-685-8

Abstract

The purpose of this talk is to advocate a particular way of thinking about processes and their relationship to objects and events. The point of view put forward is unorthodox in that it regards processes as being in some ways more closely akin to objects than to events, specifically with regard to their relationship to the directly experienced world and their capacity for undergoing change over time. A consequence of this is that the traditional distinction between continuants and occurrents becomes overshadowed by a more prominent distinction, that between the world of direct experience (made up of, inter alia, objects and processes) and the world of historical record (made up of events). In conclusion, a number of remarks are offered concerning the implications of this shift of viewpoint for formal ontology.

This was presented as a keynote talk at FOIS2006. Here are the slides.

Antony Galton

Last modified: Mon Nov 13 09:47:47 GMT 2006