Authors: Giancarlo Guizzardi, Nicola Guarino
Tags: 2006, conceptual modeling
In his article entitled “On Ontological Foundations of Conceptual Modeling” (henceforth OFCM), Boris Wyssusek reviews several approaches that have the common objective of investigating how results from areas such as formal ontology in philosophy, cognitive science, semiotics and linguistics can be employed in the construction of a well-founded theoretical basis for the discipline of conceptual modeling in computer science. Despite the title of his essay, which may let the reader think of an analysis of what the ontological foundations of conceptual modeling are, Wyssusek wonders whether the very idea makes sense, concluding very negatively that “the project of ontologybased conceptual modeling appears to be impossible in principle”. We shall bring here arguments against such conclusion, hoping to convince the readers that the ontology-driven approach to conceptual modeling is well and alive, and that it dramatically improves the quality of information systems.Read the full paper here: https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=sjis
