Ontology driven Enterprise Information Systems Engineering
Steven J. H. van Kervel · Research Repository (Delft University of Technology) · 2012
The picture on the front page is believed, but this is also challenged, to be originally an enigmatic German woodcut from the 16th century of further unknown origin.It may also be inspired by the book 'Cosmographia' by Sebastian Münster in the year 1544.The picture is about Weltanschauung, that what one may perceive as the World, one of several, maybe even unlimited, possible views of reality.There is also a reference to "as above, so below", which is one of the texts of the Hermetic Corpus, attributed to Hermes Trismegistos.Several elements seem to refer to the dawn of the "Age of Reason'.The version shown has been used also by Camille Flammarion, Paris, 1888.A missionary from the Middle Ages tells that he has found the place where Heaven and Earth meet...The image first caught the attention of the author in a history book at high school.Now it is considered as the sudden discovery of a new appropriate and truthful representation of reality, two essential quality criteria for the study of ontologies.An ontology provides a new realm of insight and understanding.At the same time there is the understanding that reality can never be understood completely.