Ontology: The Discipline and the Tool

The fields of philosophy and informatics entertain two somewhat dif- ferent conceptions of ontology. Philosophical ontology is a branch of metaphys- ics dating back at least to the time of Plato and Aristotle. Ontology in informat- ics has its origins in the artificial intelligence research of the eighties and nineties. This means that the fields of philosophy and informatics entertain two somewhat different conceptions of ontology and the present paper discusses the relationship between these two conceptions. Differences and similarities are pointed out and variations in methodological approaches are also discussed. Ef- forts to combine the ontological methodologies and resources of the two fields are surveyed, and actual and potential benefits and drawbacks of such collabo- rations are examined.