DOYLC

For the past couple of blogs I have been exploring different types on concept systems.   I have found these discussed, oddly enough, not in the literature on data modeling, but in the literature on terminology work.   At this point, I want to look at the two major concept systems.   These are very abundant in the raw material of information management, and require special attention. Generic:   This is the familiar supertype-subtype concept system, where a more generic concept encompasses a range of more specific concepts.   E.g. Animal - Chordate - Vertebrate - Mammal - Primate - Homo sapiens .   There are a couple of interesting properties of this concept system: Any instance found in a specific concept is also covered by a more general concept.   The more general concepts possess fewer attributes than the more specific ones, but every specific concept possesses the attributes of each "parent" generic concept.       Intention is inversely related to extension.    That is,

I n my previous blog I discussed the existence of different types of concept systems .  I have found these discussed, oddly enough, not in the literature on data modeling, but in the literature on terminology work.  I have not found discussion of concept systems in philosophy, but that might merely reflect my lack of education, reading in, and general knowledge of philosophy. Before going further into types of concept systems, we need to establish what a concept system is.   Nordterm 8 Guide to Terminology by Heidi Suonuuti (ISBN 952-9794-14-2) states the following: Concepts are not independent phenomena.  They are always related to other concepts in one way or another, and form concept systems which can vary from fairly simple to extremely complicated.  In terminology work, an analysis of the relations among concepts and an arrangement of them into concept systems, is a prerequisite for the successful drafting of definitions. This is not a great definition of "concept system&quo