{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T06:10:39Z","timestamp":1773814239272,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"IOS Press","isbn-type":[{"value":"9781643685618","type":"electronic"}],"license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,11]],"date-time":"2024-12-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1733875200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>According to meaning holism, the meanings of all of the words in a language are interdependent. If this was true, then the very practice of building largely interconnected set of ontologies would be threatened. We examine here the extent of the severity of meaning holism for ontology engineering, based on several definitions of the meaning of a class term in an ontology, with regard to the classical analytic\/synthetic distinction. We show that meaning holism is not as pervasive in ontologies as traditionally assumed in philosophy of language, and that a conception of meaning of a class term as a collection of statements expressing necessary conditions on this term limits meaning holism further. Still, meaning holism presents substantial challenges for ontology engineering and requires mitigation strategies. We also investigate the related phenomenon of indeterminacy of reference and show how anchoring formal ontologies in natural language can mitigate this problem, even if not fully control it.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3233\/faia241311","type":"book-chapter","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,13]],"date-time":"2024-12-13T10:21:38Z","timestamp":1734085298000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Meaning Holism and Indeterminacy of Reference in Ontologies"],"prefix":"10.3233","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5500-6539","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adrien","family":"Barton","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut de recherche en informatique de Toulouse (IRIT), CNRS, Universit\u00e9 de Toulouse, France"},{"name":"Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en informatique de la sant\u00e9 (GRIIS), Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke, Canada (QC)"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3336-2476","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul","family":"Fabry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en informatique de la sant\u00e9 (GRIIS), Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke, Canada (QC)"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9408-0109","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jean-Fran\u00e7ois","family":"Ethier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en informatique de la sant\u00e9 (GRIIS), Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke, Canada (QC)"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"7437","container-title":["Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications","Formal Ontology in Information Systems"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/ebooks.iospress.nl\/pdf\/doi\/10.3233\/FAIA241311","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,13]],"date-time":"2024-12-13T10:21:39Z","timestamp":1734085299000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/ebooks.iospress.nl\/doi\/10.3233\/FAIA241311"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,11]]},"ISBN":["9781643685618"],"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3233\/faia241311","relation":{},"ISSN":["0922-6389","1879-8314"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0922-6389","type":"print"},{"value":"1879-8314","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,11]]}}}