Needs and intentionality

In Boyan Brodaric & Fabian Neuhaus (eds.), Formal Ontology in Information Systems - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference, {FOIS} 2020, Cancelled / Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, September 14-17, 2020. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 330. pp. 125-139 (2020)
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Abstract

A thorough understanding of what needs are is fundamental for design- ing well-behaved information systems for many social applications and in partic- ular for public services. Talking about needs pervades indeed the jargon of Public Administrations when motivating their service offering. In this paper, we propose an ontological analysis of needs, aiming at a principled disentangling of the differ- ent uses of the term. We leverage philosophical tradition on intentionality, for its rich understanding of mental entities, we compare it with the well-established BDI (Belief-Desire-Intention) tradition in knowledge representation, and we propose a formalisation of needs within the foundational ontology DOLCE. Throughout the paper, we motivate our analysis focusing on needs in public services.

Author Profiles

Daniele Porello
Università degli Studi di Genova
Roberta Ferrario
Istituto Di Scienze E Tecnologie Della Cognizione, CNR, Trento

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