A Method for Reasoning with Ontologies Represented as Conceptual Graphs

Abstract

This paper discusses automated reasoning over ontologies. represented as Conceptual Graphs. We have designed and implemented reasoning tools using Conceptual Graphs as the underlying knowledge structure. This work demonstrates that the power of logic as implemented in Conceptual Graphs, and the tools available in Conceptual Graph Theory can be used as powerful ontology reasoning tools in a real-world domain. We show that ontologies can be constrained and unified using efficient methods, and that these methods provide the basis for an automated reasoning system. The Conceptual Graph techniques of concept join, partial order and subsumption are all exploited to create these reasoning tools.We dicuss the implementation of our ideas, and demonstrate the reasoning tool that we created in two domains: building architecture and defence. The significance of our work is that the previously static knowledge representation of ontology is now a dynamic, functional reasoning system.