- Weak ontology
The term "weak ontology" has unrelated meanings in
computer science andpolitical theory .Computer science
A weak ontology in computer science is one that is not sufficiently rigorous to allow software to infer new facts without an intervention by human beings (the end users of the software system).
This distinction does not apply to the philosophical term, because in philosophy all inference is performed by human beings. Accordingly, from the point of view of
computer science , philosophers do only weak ontology, except to the degree that their work converges withmathematics ,Boolean logic , and other subfields in which automatic reasoning is known to be possible.By this standard – which evolved as
artificial intelligence methods became more sophisticated, and computers were used to modelhigh human impact decisions – mostdatabase s use weak ontologies.A weak ontology is adequate for many purposes, including
education , where one is teaching a set of distinctions and trying to induce the power to make those distinctions in the student. Stronger ontologies only tend to evolve as the weaker ones prove deficient. This phenomenon of ontology becoming stronger over time parallels observations infolk taxonomy abouttaxonomy : as a society practices morelabour specialization , it tends to become intolerant of confusions and mixed metaphors, and sorts them out into formalprofession s or practices. Ultimately, these are expected to reason about them in common, with mathematics especiallystatistics andlogic as the common ground.On the
World Wide Web ,folksonomy in the form of tag schemas andtyped link s has tended to evolve slowly in a variety of forums, and then be standardized in such schemes asmicroformats as more and more forums agree. These weak ontology constructs only become strong in response to growing demand for a more powerful form ofsearch engine than is possible withkeyword ing.Political theory
"Weak ontology" has a different, unrelated, meaning in
political theory , where it describes a pragmatic approach that seeks to avoidfoundationalist commitments. The term was first used in this context byStephen K. White , professor of politics at theUniversity of Virginia .
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