1. Barry Smith Information Artifact Ontology and Aboutness 1

2. 2 Shimon Edelman’s Riddle of Representation two humans, a monkey, and a robot are looking at a piece of cheese; what is common to the representational processes in their visual systems?

3. 3 Answer: The cheese, of course

4. 4 The real cheese

5. 5 the arrow of intentionality

6. ± simple mental processcontent(putative) target presenting act content of presentation “apple” object of presentation judging act judgment-content “the apple over there is ripe” state of affairs fact evaluating act emotional act appraisal … “it is good that the apple over there is ripe” ?

7. mental processcontenttarget 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

8. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting act sensory contentobject of presentation object exists object does not exist object present object absent ± perceptually filled ordinary perception

9. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting act sensory contentobject of presentation object exists object does not exist object present object absent perceptually filled does not imply veridical hallucination

10. perception involves also a further component you experience the object as causing your experience (cf. also pain …)

11. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” + sensation originating causally at target object of presentation object exists object does not exist object present object absent the evolutionarily most basic case ordinary perception

12. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” + sensation originating causally at target object of presentation object exists object does not exist object present object absent relational implies veridical ordinary perception

13. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object of presentation object exists object does not exist object present object absent veridical does not imply relational veridical thinking about

14. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object of presentation object exists object present object absent ± content match

15. content match “apple”

16. content match “food”

17. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object of presentation object exists object present object absent veridical does not imply content match

18. content mismatch “poison”

19. content mismatch “apple” content here not just a matter of language still posson

20. mental processcontenttarget you see an apple“apple”an apple ± linguistically mediated A cat can see a king A cat can see a mass spectrometer

21. mental processcontentthere is no target presenting actcontent 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

22. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object present object absent non-veridical intentionality type 1. ontological error hallucination, deception, … the presenting act is dependent on a false underlying belief

23. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object present object absent 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. 24 the primacy of language (Sellars …) mental experiences are about objects because words have meaning word / meaning

25. 25 the primacy of the intentional (Brentano, Husserl, …): linguistic expressions have meanings because there are (‘animating’) mental experiences which have aboutness

26. dimension of content / belief prior to dimension of language

27. language comes later than mental aboutness 27

28. How annotate this 28

29. or this? 29

30. or this? 30

31. Mental Functioning Ontology (Draft)

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

33. Basic Formal Ontology 33 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process BFO:Independent Continuant BFO BFO:Dependent Continuant BFO:Disposition

34. Basic Formal Ontology and Mental Functioning Ontology (MFO) 34 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process Organism BFO:Independent Continuant BFO MFO BFO:Dependent Continuant Behaviour inducing state Mental Functioning Related Anatomical Structure Cognitive Representation BFO:Quality Affective Representation Mental Process Bodily Process BFO:Disposition

35. Functions vs. Functionings Continuants vs. Occurrents 35 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process Organism BFO:Independent Continuant BFO MFO BFO:Dependent Continuant Mental Function Cognitive Representation BFO:Quality Mental Process Bodily Process BFO:Disposition Mental Functioning

36. Aboutness (‘Intentionality’) 36 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process Organism BFO:Independent Continuant BFO MFO BFO:Dependent Continuant Mental Function Cognitive Representation BFO:Quality Mental Process Bodily Process BFO:Disposition Mental Functioning does all mental functioning involve cognitive representation (aboutness)? what is aboutness?

37. Extending the MFO to linguistic competence and performance 37

38. Linguistic Functioning Ontology (1. Speech and hearing) 38 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process BFO:Independent Continuant BFO MFO BFO:Dependent Continuant Behaviour inducing state Cognitive Representation BFO:Quality Speech- mediated cognitive representation Speech process Bodily Process BFO:Disposition Linguistic competence Speech competence of a population = a [spoken] language Speech competence of an individual Hearing (registering) process

39. Linguistic Functioning Ontology (2. Reading and writing) 39 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process BFO:Independent Continuant BFO MFO BFO:Dependent Continuant Behaviour inducing state Cognitive Representation BFO:Quality Written- language- mediated cognitive representation Writing process Bodily Process BFO:Disposition Linguistic competence Written linguistic competence of a population = a [written] language Written linguistic competence of an individual Reading (registering) process

40. Linguistic Functioning Ontology (the whole thing) 40 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process BFO:Independent Continuant BFO MFO BFO:Dependent Continuant Behaviour inducing state Cognitive Representation BFO:Quality Language- mediated cognitive representation Writing Bodily Process BFO:Disposition Linguistic competence Linguistic competence of a population = a language Linguistic competence of an individual Reading Speaking

41. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object present object absent non-veridical intentionality type 3. planning Christmas present lists

42. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object present object absent non-veridical intentionality type 4. daydreaming

43. Geach’s witch Hob thinks a witch has blighted Bob’s mare, and nob wonders whether she (the same witch) killed Cob's sow. Cf. fake terrorists

44. Mental Functioning Ontology (MF) 44 brain in endocrine gland

45. Aboutness 45 brainretina ENVIRONMENT

46. mental act about a real-world object non-relational (~ linguistic) relational (~ perception) content match content mismatch content match content mismatch veridical non-veridical 46

47. mental processcontent(putative) target presenting actcontent of presentation “apple” object of presentation object exists object does not exist target present target absent Veridical intentionality ordinary perception evolutionarily most basic case 47

48. 48

49. 49 BFO:Entity BFO:Continuant BFO:Occurrent BFO:Process BFO:Independent Continuant BFO MFO BFO:Dependent Continuant Behaviour inducing state Cognitive Representation BFO:Quality Language- mediated cognitive representation Writing Bodily Process BFO: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)