Formal Ontologies and Trinitarian Paradigm

In search of a base language to express a specific pattern of dynamic relationality

Abstract

Interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary dialogue calls for new methods and new instruments. Identifying forms of dynamic relationality typical of a trinitarian ontology and expressing these in a formal language can be seen as initial steps in developing a conceptual lens through which analogous patterns in varying fields come into focus and can be compared. The first part of the article presents a formal ontology as a neutral conceptual framework well suited for mediating scientific and humanistic disciplines. It then goes on to describe a particular axiomatic system designed to express in formal, non-ambiguous terms the pattern of dynamic relationality perceived in the ontological foundations of the charism of unity (Chiara Lubich). The article concludes with specific examples which offer insight into the question of how this dynamic, open formal system may serve as an instrument to evidence patterns of relationality common to other disciplines.