System Ontology

The theoretical foundations underlying BERT's approach to system representation and analysis.

Quick Start: Explore the Formal Ontology

Download & explore BERT's formal ontology specification:

Option 1: Protégé Desktop (Recommended)

1. Download Protégé: https://protege.stanford.edu/download/protege/5.6.4/

2. Open ontology: File → Open → Select bert-systems-ontology.rdf

3. Explore classes: Use "Classes" tab to navigate the system hierarchy

4. Visualize: Window → Tabs → OntoGraf for interactive graph view

Option 2: WebVOWL (No Installation)

1. Visit: https://service.tib.eu/webvowl/

2. Upload: bert-systems-ontology.rdf

3. Explore: Interactive graph showing all relationships

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Foundation: Mobus's Ontological Framework

BERT implements the ontological framework from Chapter 3.4 of Systems Science: Theory, Analysis, Modeling, and Design, which asserts that "what can exist in this evolving Universe, made of matter and energy, organized by knowledge and information, is systems."

The Core Framework

As outlined in Section 3.4, the framework establishes three aspects:

1. Ontological Elements - The things that exist in all systems

2. Roles - The functions these elements play

3. Hierarchical Organization - The relative levels of system organization

Implemented Elements in BERT

From the framework (Fig. 3.13), BERT v0.2.0 implements these core ontological elements:

Level -1: ENVIRONMENT

• Definition: "The supra-system that encloses the system of interest"

• BERT Implementation: Explicit environment field with spatial regions

• Purpose: Provides CONTEXT and MEANING to the system

Level 0: SYSTEM

• Identity Attributes (partially implemented):

  • ENTITY - System name and definition

  • PROCESS - Purpose/function specification

  • ARCHETYPE - System type/category (implicit in examples)

• Derived Properties:

  • BEHAVIOR - Emerges from component interactions

  • BOUNDEDNESS - Explicit boundary definitions with spatial regions

Level +1: COMPONENTS

• Definition: "Internal components and their interactions—that which gives rise to the SOI behavior"

• BERT Implementation: Hierarchical subsystem decomposition

• Relationships: Component INTERACTIONS via connections

The Principle of Systemness

Following Chapter 2, Principle 1: "Everything is a system, meaning that all things in existence are organized with system attributes and are, themselves, subsystems of larger supra-systems, up to the Universe as a whole."

BERT enables this recursive analysis where any COMPONENT at Level +1 can become the SYSTEM at Level 0 for deeper analysis.

Related Concepts

• System Language - Formal notation for system specification

• System Modeling - Practical application of the ontology

• Complexity Metrics - Quantifying ontological properties

Formal Ontology Specification

BERT's theoretical foundations are formalized in a complete OWL/RDF ontology that maps Mobus's 7-tuple framework to computational implementation:

📄 bert-systems-ontology.rdf - Complete formal ontology specification

This ontology provides:

• Semantic Validation - Formal verification of system models against systems theory

• Protégé Compatibility - Load directly into ontology editors for analysis

• JSON Mapping - Direct correspondence between formal concepts and BERT's JSON implementation

• Mobus 7-tuple Implementation - Complete mapping of S_{i,l} = ⟨C_{i,l}, N_{i,l}, G_{i,l}, B_{i,l}, T_{i,l}, H_{i,l}, Δ_{i,l}⟩

Integration with BERT Models

The ontology provides semantic validation for BERT's JSON models:

Further Reading

• Mobus, George (2022). Principles of Systems Science

• BERT's theoretical foundations

• DSA methodology overview

This page reflects BERT v0.2.0's complete ontological implementation.