A sketch of an ontology of spaces
Pierre Grenon · Open Research Online (The Open University) · 2008
Abstract. In these pages I merely attempt to sketch the basis of an ontology of spaces that may help in formulating the problem of the unification of the real and the virtual within the context of technologies that increasingly blend these aspects. 1 Spaces and Spatialities space. Abstract spaces recollect properties of theoretical and formal artifacts used to model physical space. Physical space is the space in which we live and interact. It is no surprise that from abstract spaces we can generate more computerized spaces than those intended to model reality. Standalone spaces of this sort (spaces which have in first analysis no connection to reality) are virtual spaces in the most consumed sense. The working hypothesis driving this contribution is that rather than a sharp distinction between real and virtual space there is a spectrum, if not a continuum, of spaces which go from the most real to the most virtual with a number of intermediate hybrids. The notion of space