A Human Experience Realist Ontology in Basic Formal Ontology

摘要

A realist ontology of the modern human experience is built using the Basic Formal Ontology. Four measurable and observable entities are identified as upper-level and universal in the domain of human experience. All other entities and abstractions are shown to emerge from these. The universals are: material things, individual humans, money and energy. A four by four matrix of the universals creates ten phenomena-based categories that systematically map the domains codified in the Dewey Decimal Classification. The matrix is an example of the property of low-emergence in human development. A human research study using interview methodology linked the sufficiency of seven common instances of each universal to fully cover the subjective and present life experiences of twenty-five physically, educationally, economically and culturally diverse participants. To address the significant diversity of human experience, the universals and instances used in the human research are realistically mapped onto a Rubik's Cube. Applying the known properties of cube, mathematics implies the sufficiency of the upper-level universals to account for human diversity. Implications for rationally based ethical categorical imperatives in education are discussed.