Referent tracking for treatment optimisation in schizophrenic patients: A case study in applying philosophical ontology to diagnostic algorithms

Ceusters, Werner

doi:10.1016/j.websem.2006.05.002

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…The concept of referent tracking itself is introduced in Ceusters & Smith (2005), but the focus of the discussion is on the adoption of "unique identifiers" to serve as names of particulars -"individual real 19 The approach and methodologies pertaining to referent tracking are described in Smith et al (2005); , 2006c, 2006b, 2007. Additional references to related literature may be found in Ceusters (2009b).…”

Section: Realism In Referent Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It depends in no way on the interpretation of u as designating a universal, and all the references to universals in the discussion can be eliminated without affecting the proposed characterization of EHRs in any way whatever. Ceusters & Smith (2006b, 2007 follow on the heels of Ceusters & Smith (2006c) and seek to apply the "referent tracking paradigm" to two specific problems in informatics. The final section of Ceusters 26 For a more rigorous and complete formalization of the notion of hierarchically structured ontologies, and the relation of an ontology to its language, see Section 4 of Merrill (2006).…”

Section: Realism In Referent Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Note also that Smith-Ceusters provides similar examples (as in Section 1 of Ceusters (2006)) of the meaning-preserving elimination of apparent reference to universals in favor of references to (what are purportedly their) particulars. & Smith (2006b) contains an argument that the realism-based approach offers certain fundamental advantages over the "currently prevailing paradigms" that involve building "conceptual models" to support the translation of one ontology to another in order to create "software programs that exhibit intelligent behaviour". Precisely what goal is at issue here is a bit obscure, no specific examples are given, and it is not clear exactly what the objection is to the building of such models -except that they are claimed not to "represent any reality on the side of the patient".…”

Section: Realism In Diagnostic Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A part of the criticism advanced in Ceusters & Smith (2006b) against conceptual modeling approaches is that these approaches violate the Empiricist Doctrine, and this certainly is a part of Smith-Ceusters realism. And adherence to the Empiricist Doctrine can be expected to yield more stable and more wellfounded ontologies (since those ontologies will then be in conformance with empirical observations and established theory).…”

Section: Realism In Diagnostic Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is an unspecific reference at this point toLowe (2002) with no hint as to how Lowe's treatment is relevant -aside, perhaps, from the fact that he discusses universals and particulars at some length.29 The scope of this criticism inCeusters & Smith (2006b) is partly implicit since the analysis and discussion there simply assumes the Universalist Doctrine and then views everything from that perspective. However, there are some places where the…”

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confidence: 99%

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Ontological realism: Methodology or misdirection?

Merrill

2010

Applied Ontology

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In a series of papers over a period of several years Barry Smith and Werner Ceusters have offered a number of cogent criticisms of historical approaches to creating, maintaining, and applying biomedical terminologies and ontologies. And they have urged the adoption of what they refer to as a "realism-based" approach. Indeed, at times they insist that the realism-based approach not only offers clear advantages and a well-founded methodological basis for ontology development and evaluation, but that such a realist perspective is in fact necessary for understanding and using terminologies and ontologies in science.This paper explores a number of questions surrounding such claims, provides a careful characterization of the type of realism recommended by Smith and Ceusters, and evaluates the role that realism plays in the critiques and recommendations that they offer. The conclusion reached is that while Smith's and Ceusters' criticisms of prior practice in the treatment of ontologies and terminologies in medical informatics are often both perceptive and well founded, and while at least some of their own proposals demonstrate obvious merit and promise, none of this either follows from or requires the brand of realism that they propose.Editor's note: A response to this paper from Barry Smith and Werner Ceusters is scheduled to appear in a future issue of Applied Ontology.

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Section: Realism In Referent Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Realism In Referent Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Realism In Diagnostic Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Realism In Diagnostic Algorithmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ontological realism: Methodology or misdirection?

Merrill

2010

Applied Ontology

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The Place of Referent Tracking in Biomedical Informatics

Ceusters

2023

Health Informatics

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Terminological systems, including coding and classification systems, are used in electronic medical record systems to facilitate the interpretation of structured data by providing terms and codes with a relatively precise meaning. When a clinician selects a term or code from such system and enters it in the medical record of a patient, then, from an ontological perspective and as a consequence of how terminological systems are currently integrated in electronic medical record systems, an assertion has been made to the effect that the patient exhibits, or exhibited, some phenomenon of type T. It is however left unspecified which phenomenon in particular is of the designated type T. In other words: such records contain explicit references, i.e. the terms or codes, but the referents of these references are not explicitly identified! Because referents can be referenced in many different ways, types used as references can be about many referents, and referents may change so they become of a different type, data analytics application which rely on types only are prone to drawing erroneous conclusions. Referent Tracking is a methodology for data management which allows assertions only to be made with explicit reference to the referents they are about. This chapter offers an introduction to the principles upon which the methodology rests and how these principles can be applied to improve the quality of the problem list in medical records.

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Foundations for a realist ontology of mental disease

Ceusters

Smith

2010

J Biomed Sem

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While classifications of mental disorders have existed for over one hundred years, it still remains unspecified what terms such as 'mental disorder', 'disease' and 'illness' might actually denote. While ontologies have been called in aid to address this shortfall since the GALEN project of the early 1990s, most attempts thus far have sought to provide a formal description of the structure of some pre-existing terminology or classification, rather than of the corresponding structures and processes on the side of the patient.We here present a view of mental disease that is based on ontological realism and which follows the principles embodied in Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) and in the application of BFO in the Ontology of General Medical Science (OGMS). We analyzed statements about what counts as a mental disease provided (1) in the research agenda for the DSM-V, and (2) in Pies' model. The results were used to assess whether the representational units of BFO and OGMS were adequate as foundations for a formal representation of the entities in reality that these statements attempt to describe. We then analyzed the representational units specific to mental disease and provided corresponding definitions.Our key contributions lie in the identification of confusions and conflations in the existing terminology of mental disease and in providing what we believe is a framework for the sort of clear and unambiguous reference to entities on the side of the patient that is needed in order to avoid these confusions in the future.

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Referent tracking for treatment optimisation in schizophrenic patients: A case study in applying philosophical ontology to diagnostic algorithms

Cited by 6 publications

References 14 publications

Ontological realism: Methodology or misdirection?

Ontological realism: Methodology or misdirection?

The Place of Referent Tracking in Biomedical Informatics

Foundations for a realist ontology of mental disease

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