New: Doctoral Program in Applied Ontology
The University at Buffalo Department of Philosophy is launching what will be the first PhD program in applied ontology.
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[Acid Dyes for Felt Pile, Base Colors, Société Anonyme des Matières Colorantes et Produits Chimiques de Saint-Denis]
A press release from the University contextualizes applied ontology in terms of its importance for the development and use of artificial intelligence:
How artificial intelligence (AI) will affect different careers in the future remains a matter of conjecture, but one thing is certain: AI development requires applied ontologists.
Ontology is a foundational philosophical discipline. Applied ontology uses the ideas and methods of its namesake to integrate data and promote interoperability across computing systems. By structuring otherwise unrelated terms and definitions, ontologists make explicit the implicit meanings buried across such systems, drawing out hidden insights and new knowledge.
The department introduced an online Master’s degree in applied ontology last year.
You can learn more about the study of applied ontology at Buffalo here, and more about applied ontology at the website of the National Center for Ontological Research, also at Buffalo.
Quite a few years ago Prof. Barry Smith came to my department for a colloquium talk about applied ontology. He began his talk with an attempt to answer the question, “Why should philosophers care about applied ontology?”, and his answer consisted entirely of a projected graph showing the average salaries of applied ontologists vs. professional philosophers (or something of that sort).
That may not answer the question of why philosophers qua philosophers should care about applied ontology, but it seems very relevant to why philosophy programs should care. We should value opportunities to show how philosophical training can be put to use in the world, especially when those opportunities lead to interesting and well-paid work for students.
To be clear, I think the emergence of applied ontology as a field can probably benefit some individuals, and it is probably a good thing to that extent. Whether it is a net good for philosophy as a profession or philosophers/philosophy students as a group is, it seems to me, a question we currently lack evidence to answer. But as someone who’s at baseline critical of credentialism in general, I must say I have some questions about “a fully online, asynchronous program” that awards doctoral degrees in applied ontology. For background, Justin shared that the same department “introduced an online Master’s degree in applied ontology last year.” My original comment was also in the spirit of sharing what I took to be relevant background.
The project of translating classifications we pretend are neutral but are actually tacitly value-laden into formal languages we pretend are neutral but are actually tacitly value-laden so that those classifications can be legible to an unchecked centralized body fits right in with the current, nightmarish economic vision.
Re: nightmarishness: Buffalo’s National Center for Ontological Research (NCOR) describes itself as providing “consultant services for ontology projects, especially in the defense and security fields and in health care and biomedical informatics.”
I read that too.
It’s the very structure of de-contextualizing-and-making-legible-to-centralized-authority that is worrisome. The structure remains even if the centralized authority is supposedly benign or helpful.
Agreed. But, as I see it, the two go hand-in-hand. They are, you might say, different dimensions of dehumanization.