Overview of GFO 2.0 Functions: An ontology module for representing teleological knowledge

Abstract Teleological knowledge and functional representation are present in numerous scientific and engineering disciplines and are key aspects addressed by a broad spectrum of design and modeling frameworks. The current paper summarizes the results obtained in the area of functional modeling achieved under the umbrella of the second release of the General Formal Ontology (GFO 2.0), which is a modular top-level ontological framework actively developed by the Onto-Med Research Group. This paper presents and discusses the Function Module of GFO 2.0, which serves three objectives. (1) It supports the representation of teleological components, let it be a function or a goal-oriented process, by a blueprint of structured specifications. (2) It provides a classification of relationships enabling the construction of functional decomposition models. (3) The module enables the description of the elements of a domain in functional terms by means of a family of function ascription constructs, which handle the modeling of not only function-to-object assignments, but also of malfunctions.