Conceptual realism as a formal ontology

Nino B. Cocchiarella

pp. 27-60

in: Roberto Poli, Peter Simons (eds), Formal ontology, Berlin, Springer, 1996

Abstract

A formal ontology is both a theory of logical form and a metaphysical theory about the ontological structure of the world. What makes it a theory of logical form is that different ontological categories or modes of being are represented in it by different logico-grammatical categories. It is specified in this regard by what might be called an ontological grammar that determines how the expressions of those logico-grammatical categories can be meaningfully combined so as to represent different ontological aspects of the world.