MIN Model (v1.1.0)

This page summarizes the current conceptual architecture and modeling rules in MIN.

1. Core architecture

MIN has an explicit partition under min:Entity with these core definitions:

  • Entity · eindeutige Referenzierbarkeit · "Das, was existiert."
  • Nexus · kausale Wirksamkeit · "Das, was etwas bewirkt."
  • Forma · konstitutive Bestimmung · "Das, was bestimmt."
  • Agent · selektive Handlungsfähigkeit · "Das, was handelt."

Formal axiom:

  • min:Entity owl:equivalentClass [ owl:unionOf ( min:Nexus min:Forma ) ]

2. Why this split matters

The architecture separates artifacts from determinants:

  • min:Data is an actual artifact (files, storage, ownership, lifecycle)
  • min:Forma is not an artifact (law, structure, possibility, norm, institution)

Typical pattern:

  • Data node stores/communicates knowledge
  • Forma node captures what that knowledge is about
  • Bridge via min:encodes

3. Nexus branch (actual)

Classes:

  • min:Nexus (root)
  • min:Object · materielle Persistenz · "Das, was da ist."
  • min:Process · Veränderung · "Das, was geschieht."
  • min:Data · informationelles Artefakt · "Das, was beschreibt."
  • min:Boundary · Grenzphänomene · "Das, was dazwischen entsteht."

Key structural constraints:

  • min:Process has at least one hasInput and one hasOutput
  • min:Boundary has at least two bounds

Disjointness:

  • Object, Process, Data, Boundary are pairwise disjoint
  • Agent is not part of this disjointness set

3b. Agent as "Das, was handelt."

  • min:Agent is a direct subclass of min:Entity in v1.0.
  • Structural constraints: at least one performs; co-typing with Nexus or Forma is required.
  • Typical co-typing patterns: Agent ∩ Object, Agent ∩ Data, Agent ∩ Institutio.
  • Agent and Process are disjoint (v1.0.1).

4. Forma branch (formal)

Classes:

  • min:Forma (root)
  • min:Lex · universelle Gültigkeit · "Das, was immer gilt."
  • min:Structura · formale Struktur · "Das, was die Wirklichkeit formalisiert."
  • min:Possibile · Möglichkeitsraum · "Das, was sein könnte."
  • min:Norma · Anforderung · "Das, was gelten soll."
  • min:Institutio · kollektive Anerkennung · "Das, was anerkannt wird."
  • min:Epistemicum · epistemische Haltung · "Das, was fuer wahr gehalten wird." (v1.1.0)

Disjointness:

  • The six Forma subclasses are pairwise disjoint
  • min:Nexus and min:Forma are disjoint

5. Bridge relations (Nexus <-> Forma)

Three generic bridge relations:

  • originates / originatedBy: Nexus brings new Forma into existence
  • constrains: Forma restricts what Nexus can be/do
  • realizes / realizedBy: Nexus makes existing Forma actual

Specialized bridge relations:

  • governs (Lex -> Process)
  • formalizes (Structura -> Nexus)
  • evaluates (Norma -> Nexus)
  • concerns and alternativeTo (Possibile -> Nexus)
  • constitutes / constitutedBy (Agent <-> Institutio)
  • recognizes / recognizedBy (Agent <-> Institutio)
  • encodes / encodedBy (Data <-> Forma)
  • typifies / typifiedBy (Institutio <-> Nexus)
  • comprises (Institutio -> Forma)

6. Identity semantics for process modeling

MIN distinguishes two modeling modes:

  • Transformative: hasInput / hasOutput represent new entities (new identity)
  • Conservative: undergoes / resultOf represent persistence through change (same identity)

7. Property polarity (schema level)

Polarity is modeled on property definitions (not on blank-node wrappers):

  • min:materialProperty
  • min:informationalProperty

Domain properties should declare rdfs:subPropertyOf one of these two.

8. Practical modeling rules

  1. If it acts causally, start in the Nexus branch.
  2. If it determines validity/structure/possibility without causal action, use Forma.
  3. Keep artifacts in Data and connect to formal meaning with encodes.
  4. Use typifies for kind-of determination via institutionalized types (Institutio).
  5. Model relational phenomena like friction/contact resistance as Boundary, not as single-object properties.

9. OWL-DL and inverse completeness

Current model characteristics:

  • Polarity super-properties are owl:AnnotationProperty (OWL-DL compatible)
  • 13 inverse object-property pairs are explicitly declared
  • Branch disjointness and class partition are represented as OWL axioms

10. Typification

Typification is modeled via min:Institutio + min:typifies:

  • min:typifies (Institutio -> Nexus): determines what kind a Nexus counts as
  • min:comprises (Institutio -> Forma): bundles atomic Forma instances into a type determination
  • Classification is an institutional act — the bundling exists because a community recognizes it

11. Causality and efficacy modes

min:hasCausalityMode and min:hasEfficacyMode are formalized as ObjectProperties with owl:oneOf enumeration classes. Each leaf class has an owl:hasValue restriction, so a reasoner infers the mode automatically:

# Find all instances with dispositional causality
SELECT ?x WHERE { ?x min:hasCausalityMode min:CM_Dispositional . }
# Returns all Object, Process, and Agent instances (inferred)
  • CausalityMode: 3 values (Dispositional, Mediated, Relational) — Nexus + Agent only
  • EfficacyMode: 10 values — all leaf Entity subclasses
  • Not owl:FunctionalProperty — Agent co-typing (Agent ∩ Object) legitimately produces two efficacy modes

12. Epistemic relations

Process-centric (Popperian, v1.0.0)

  • min:confirms / min:confirmedBy (Process -> Forma): epistemic corroboration
  • min:refutes / min:refutedBy (Process -> Possibile): epistemic falsification
  • min:entails (Forma -> Forma): logical implication (transitive)
  • min:supersedes / min:supersededBy (Forma -> Forma): historical succession (not transitive)
  • min:justifiedBy / min:justifies (Institutio -> Forma): epistemic grounding

Evidence-centric (Epistemicum, v1.1.0)

  • min:holds / min:heldBy (Agent <-> Epistemicum): agent holds epistemic stance
  • min:about (Epistemicum -> Entity): what the stance is about
  • min:supportedBy / min:supports (Epistemicum <-> Nexus): evidence supports stance
  • min:underminedBy / min:undermines (Epistemicum <-> Nexus): evidence weakens stance
  • min:hasEpistemicStatus (Epistemicum -> EpistemicStatus): exactly one status
  • min:hasConfidenceType (Epistemicum -> ConfidenceType): kind of confidence
  • min:hasConfidence (Epistemicum -> xsd:double): quantitative confidence [0..1]

Both patterns complement each other. See Epistemic Dimension (EN) / Epistemische Dimension (DE) for details.