]> 2008/06/10 OpenCyc Knowledge Base Copyright© 2001-2008 Cycorp, Inc., http://www.cyc.com/, Austin, TX, USA This file contains an OWL representation of information contained in the OpenCyc Knowledge Base. The content of this OWL file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license whose text can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode. The content of this OWL file, including the OpenCyc content it represents, constitutes the "Work" referred to in the Creative Commons license. The terms of this license equally apply to, without limitation, renamings and other logically equivalent reformulations of the content of this OWL file (or portions thereof) in any natural or formal language, as well as to derivations of this content or inclusion of it in other ontologies. externalID A unique, language-neutral, variable-sized identifier for a concept that can be used to refer unambiguously to that concept across OWL exports or across Cyc inference engines. label A natural-language representation for a concept that is both human readable and readable by the Cyc inference engine. These terms are not guaranteed to refer to the same concept across time but are guaranteed to be consistent within a particular OWL export. Use 'cycAnnot:externalID' for unambiguously referring to a concept across OWL exports or across Cyc inference engines. A collection of collections. Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvYLfOJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ThingTypeByCapability</a> is a collection that represents the degree to which something is capable of performing some function. capability level ThingTypeByCapability capability levels levels of capability level of capability passive capability attribute Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rhvqDCCAIEdaeZgACs0uFOQ" class="cyc_term">ThingTypeByCapability_Passive</a> is a collection of things with a certain passive capacity. Instances of this collection represent a capability something has that enables it to play the role <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVi65pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">objectActedOn</a> in certain events. ThingTypeByCapability-Passive functional thing A collection of things that function ( a sub-collection of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVi255wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">SomethingExisting</a>) that represents that something is fully functional with respect to its being capable of performing the primary function of things of its kind (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvf9nCZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">typePrimaryFunction</a>). FunctionalObject A collection of non-functional things (a sub-collection of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVi255wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">SomethingExisting</a>) that represents that something is nonfunctional with respect to its being capable of performing the primary function of things of its kind (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvf9nCZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">typePrimaryFunction</a>). NonFunctionalObject nonfunctional thing AtemporalNecessarilyEssentialCollectionType A collection of collections. Each instance <code>COL</code> of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rqEYnNVMqEdaSKAACs0x8nw" class="cyc_term">AtemporalNecessarilyEssentialCollectionType</a> (ANECT) is a collection satisfying three conditions: (1) <code>COL</code> is disjoint with (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViA45wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">disjointWith</a>) <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAxJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TemporalThing</a>, (2) every instance <code>INST</code> of <code>COL</code> is an instance of <code>COL</code> essentially (i.e. <code>INST</code> is an instance of <code>COL</code>, and could not exist without being an instance of <code>COL</code>), and (3) condition (2) is a necessary truth about <code>COL</code>. Positive examples of ANECTs include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Collection</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVieEpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Integer</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAzZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Relation</a> (each of which is a collection of atemporals and is such that, necessarily, all of its instances are in it essentially). Negative examples include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVjpUZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">SpatialThing</a> (though arguably it is necessary that all of its instances are essentially instances of it, it is not disjoint with <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAxJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TemporalThing</a>) and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwP4FM5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">UniqueAnatomicalPartType</a> (which, though disjoint with <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAxJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TemporalThing</a>, has instances, such as <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVjvDpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Heart</a>, that could exist even if they weren't instances of it; e.g. it might have been the case that every creature with a heart had at least two hearts). There are no known examples of Cyc-reified collections satisfying conditions (1) and (2) but not (3), but one can be contrived. Suppose that all of today's winning lottery numbers were primes. Now consider the collection: (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvrhK-JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionUnionFn</a> (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVjkdpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TheSet</a> <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVjrdZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PrimeNumber</a> TodaysWinningLotteryNumbers)) This collection is clearly disjoint with <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAxJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TemporalThing</a> and, by hypothesis, all of its instances are in it essentially (as each prime number is essentially a prime number). But this last fact is not necessarily true of this collection: the collection might have had instances that belonged to it only contingently (i.e. not essentially), as it might have been the case that one of today's winning lottery numbers was non-prime, and no number is such that it is essentially one of today's winning lottery numbers. When asserting that something is an instance or specialization of a given instance of ANECT, it is appropriate to do so in the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4r3_SgQU2iEdaCwAACs0x8nw" class="cyc_term">UniversalVocabularyMt</a> (q.v.). Indeed, ANECT was specially defined to facilitate the movement of appropriate assertions to that microtheory. Cf. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rGeylLJTfEdqAAAACs0uFOQ" class="cyc_term">PragmaticallyDecontextualizedCollection</a>. type of atemporal collection in which membership is necessarily essential A collection of collections. Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvYLfOJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ThingTypeByCapability</a> is a collection that represents the degree to which something is capable of performing some function. capability level ThingTypeByCapability Pretty String (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwLSVCpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">prettyString</a> TERM STRING) means that STRING is the English word or expression (sequence of words) commonly used to refer to TERM. The predicate <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwLSVCpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">prettyString</a> is used by the code which generates CycL to English paraphrases, but its applicability is not restricted to this use. prettyString type of thing Collection A specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVjl_ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">SetOrCollection</a> (q.v.). This is the collection of all collections of things. Each <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Collection</a> is a kind or type of thing whose instances share a certain property, attribute, or feature. For example, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVkFc5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Cat</a> is the collection of all and only cats, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwOckfJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BinaryFunction</a> is the collection of all and only functions taking two arguments. The notion of collection is fundamental to the Cyc ontology, and is thus difficult to define in a precise and substantive way. But it is instructive to compare it to the mathematical notion of a set (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvl2en5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Set_Mathematical</a>). Like a set, a collection is an <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rpJ-nSEkJQdeC8NLkYPDBBw" class="cyc_term">AbstractThing</a> (i.e. aspatial and atemporal) that is not an <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVjaApwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Individual</a> (cf.), but instead has elements (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwGWaK5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">elementOf</a>). Unlike a set, however, the elements or "instances" (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a>) of a given collection can vary from context to context, and it is possible for distinct collections to have exactly the same elements (i.e. to have the same <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwN2YGZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">extent</a>) with respect to a given context. For example, the (non-reified) collections "Chordate" and "Renate" are co-extensional in the context of the present-day actual world, but have differring extents with respect to hypothetical contexts in which there exist creatures having hearts but not kidneys. This difference is sometimes summarized by saying that sets are "extensional" things and collections are "intensional" things. Many, though by no means all, of the collections reified in the Cyc ontology correspond to natural kinds or classes. It is particulary useful to reify collections that are difficult to define precisely, but about which there are many common-sense rules and other things to state. For example, it would not be worthwile to introduce a constant 'WhiteCat', both because it's easy to define the collection of white cats in terms of more general, already-reified notions (e.g. '(<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwEcGC5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionIntersection2Fn</a> <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVkFc5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Cat</a> <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rBjWwGHS-EdaAAACgyZzFrg" class="cyc_term">WhiteColor</a>)'), and because there's not much to say about that particular collection. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rsX6vHnS6EdaAAACgyZzFrg" class="cyc_term">WhiteCollarWorker</a>, on the other hand, is a good collection to have reified, as it is hard to define precisely, yet is a collection about which there are many things to say. Some of the many reified specializations of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Collection</a> are <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rHIBS0h_TEdaAAABQ2rksLw" class="cyc_term">FirstOrderCollection</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwIE23ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TimeDependentCollection</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvVirnZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ObjectType</a>. A collection of collections. Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvYLfOJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ThingTypeByCapability</a> is a collection that represents the degree to which something is capable of performing some function. capability level ThingTypeByCapability A collection of collections of collections. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvtppU5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionType</a> is the collection of all (and only) types of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViAzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Collection</a>s. More precisely, a thing COLLTYPE is an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvtppU5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionType</a> if and only if COLLTYPE is a non-empty collection all of whose instances are collections. Example: <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rwPzQbJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PersonTypeByCulture</a>, each of whose instances is the collection of all persons who participate in some particular human culture, is an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvtppU5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionType</a>. Important specializations of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvtppU5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionType</a> include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvWPoRpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">DisjointCollectionType</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rvViA4pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">SiblingDisjointCollectionType</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/2008/06/10/concept/Mx4rviPYH5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionTypeType</a>. CollectionType type of collection