Representation, realization, and ascription of functions for material entities

Abstract

Across many domains entities are described in terms of their functionality, i.e. in terms of functions, which are ascribed to them. We propose an ontological framework, called OF (Ontology of Functions), which provides an expressive formalism to specify the central components of a function and to classify various versions of function ascription. OF is an integral part of GFO; it uses heavily various further categories and axioms of GFO. The notion of function, its representation, realization, and ascription is considered as domain independent, being applicable across diverse particular domains. The results are directed towards a unified theory of functions that is viable for the domains of natural science, notably for biology, and for technology.