Abstract: Ontologies are usually focused on describing the things that exist in time (i.e., continuants, objects), but the things that happen (i.e., occurrents, processes, events) also play an important role in representing the world. This paper explores the view of occurrents as transitions between situations to propose a framework for the ontological analysis of occurrents. We analyzed this view in light of the notion of material constitution to characterize the subtypes of occurrent according to the differences between the situation that precedes and the one that follows from the happening of the occurrent. With that, we propose the principle of ontological conservation as well as four types of occurrents.

Keywords: Ontologies, Occurrents, Events, Material constitution, Ontological conservation

Authors: Fabrício Henrique Rodrigues, Joel Luís Carbonera and Mara Abel

Journal/Conference: International Conference on Conceptual Modeling

Publication: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62522-1_26