The Cognitive-Epistemological Mindset

The Central Insight: Descriptions and Situations

The most distinctive feature of DUL is the D&S (Descriptions and Situations) pattern, which embodies a fundamentally epistemological approach to ontology.

Core Distinction:

• Description: A conceptual schema, theory, or frame that defines concepts and their relationships
• Situation: A view on reality that satisfies (is consistent with) a description

Example:

• Description: "A recipe for chocolate cake" (defines ingredients, procedures, roles like 'baker', tasks like 'mixing')
• Situation: "My baking session this morning" (satisfies the recipe: I played the baker role, I executed the mixing task, etc.)

This separation allows us to model:

1. The same reality under different theories: An avalanche can be framed as a natural process (physics) or as a crime scene (law)
2. Theories without instances: We can model the recipe even if no one has ever baked that cake
3. Multiple interpretations: The same physical event can satisfy different descriptions (diagnosis, narrative, legal norm)

The Epistemological Commitment

DUL recognizes that knowledge is always mediated by conceptual frameworks. This has profound implications:

No Direct Access to Reality

We never model "raw objects" or "raw events"—we model:

• Objects-as-classified (a physical entity as a "car", as a "weapon", as "evidence")
• Events-as-interpreted (a physical process as an "action", as an "accident", as a "crime")

DUL makes this explicit through:

• classifies/isClassifiedBy: Concepts classify entities within contexts
• satisfies/isSatisfiedBy: Situations satisfy descriptions that provide interpretation

Context Dependence

The "same" entity can have different identities in different contexts:

• An old cradle is a baby furniture in a museum (satisfying a historical design description)
• The same cradle is a flower pot in a garden (satisfying a home decoration description)

Both are valid, non-contradictory views—they are different Situations that include the same physical object.

Observer Relativity

DUL acknowledges that observers create contexts:

• A Situation is "a view created by an observer on the basis of a frame"
• Different observers (or the same observer at different times) can create different situations from the same data

The Social Construction of Reality

DUL distinguishes PhysicalObject and SocialObject as disjoint:

PhysicalObject

• Has spatial location and (typically) mass
• Exists independently of human conceptualization
• Examples: rocks, trees, human bodies, buildings

SocialObject

• Exists only through communication and shared understanding
• Must be expressed by InformationObjects (speech, writing, gestures)
• Examples: laws, roles, organizations, concepts, money, marriages

Key insight: Social reality is ontologically dependent on information:

• A marriage exists because it is expressed in legal documents and social practices
• A role (e.g., "professor") exists because it is defined in institutional descriptions
• An organization exists because its structure is documented and communicated

This captures the constitutive role of language and communication in creating social facts (echoing John Searle's philosophy of social ontology).

Information and Meaning

DUL provides a sophisticated model of information that distinguishes:

InformationObject (Abstract)

The information content itself, independent of physical realization:

• The 3rd Gymnopedie by Satie (the musical composition)
• The text of the Italian Constitution (the legal content)
• The concept "dog" (the mental/social construct)

InformationRealization (Concrete)

Physical or event-based realizations:

• A printed music sheet, a piano performance, a recording
• A specific book copy, an oral recitation
• Utterances of the word "dog", written tokens

Relation: realizes connects InformationRealization to InformationObject

expresses Relation

InformationObjects express SocialObjects (their "meanings"):

• The term "professor" expresses the Role concept 'Professor'
• The recipe text expresses the Plan for making cake
• The Constitution text expresses the legal Norm system

This three-level model (Physical Realization → Abstract Information → Social Meaning) provides a foundation for:

• Semantic web and knowledge representation
• Cultural heritage documentation
• Legal and institutional modeling
• Discourse and narrative analysis

The Cognitive Premise: Concepts and Classification

DUL models the cognitive act of categorization:

Concept

A SocialObject that classifies entities:

• Defined within a Description
• Can be reused across descriptions
• Acts as an intensional category (the "idea" of something)

Classification (Time-Indexed)

A special Situation that captures:

• What concept classifies what entity
• At what time interval
• Within what larger context

Example: "My old cradle is classified as a flower pot in June 2024 (within the situation of my garden decoration project)"

This allows:

• Dynamic classification: Entities can be reclassified over time
• Context-dependent classification: Different classifications in different situations
• Multiple simultaneous classifications: The cradle is still a cradle (historically) even while functioning as a flower pot

The Quality-Region Pattern

DUL reifies attributes through the Quality-Region pattern:

Quality

An individual aspect of an entity:

• Cannot exist without the entity (dependent)
• The specific yellowness of Dmitri's skin
• The specific height of the Eiffel Tower

Region

An abstract value in a dimensional space:

• Independent of particular entities
• "180 cm" in the space of possible heights
• "Yellow" in color space

Relation: hasRegion connects Quality to Region (the quality's value)

Why this complexity?

1. Observation vs. reality: The same quality (Dmitri's skin color) can be measured differently (RGB values, wavelengths, color names)
2. Temporal change: Qualities persist even as their regions change (Dmitri's skin can tan)
3. Parameter-based constraints: Concepts can constrain regions (Role 'Driver' requires Parameter 'MinimumAge' > 16)

Epistemological vs. Ontological Modeling

DUL allows modeling at two levels:

Ontological Level

What exists in the domain:

• Physical objects, events, their parts and qualities
• Mereological (part-whole) relations
• Spatial and temporal location

Epistemological Level

How we conceptualize and organize what exists:

• Descriptions, concepts, roles, tasks
• Situations, classifications, contexts
• Information objects expressing knowledge

Most ontologies focus only on the ontological level. DUL's innovation is integrating both, acknowledging that:

• Domain models are not "reality" but "conceptualizations of reality"
• Different conceptualizations can coexist (pluralism)
• The act of modeling itself involves descriptions and situations