Goals of Modularity: A Voice from the Foundational Viewpoint

It is widely accepted that modularity will help to solve many problems in the construction and management of ontological systems, and researchers are actively investigating techniques for modularization and parameters for module assessment. This note aims to diverge attention from technical issues to what is the basic goal of modularity. Modularization is a technique that can be devoted to solve different types of problems, depending on the type of ontology one works with. We start from a classification of ontology research in three rough classes, and discuss what modularization should achieve from each perspective. This observation gives already some indications on what modules one should look for. We conclude with the optimistic view that the modular approach can radically change the way we build foundational ontologies. This, however, requires a further study of what should count as a module. Something we are still far from understanding.