FROLIO – Formalizable Relationship-Oriented Language-Insensitive Ontology

© Roger M Tagg 2010-2015

Welcome to FROLIO – a new attempt to merge philosophy and the "semantic web".

Book Highlights - Index

When I come across a really interesting book, especially if I have to return it to a library or to the friend who lent it to me, after reading it once I go through it again and make a note of what I think are the big points in the book. I do this by page number (of the edition I read) and almost always colour-code the chapters. Otherwise I find I quickly forget what it was all about.

Most of these books have some relevance to FROLIO; they cover things like Philosophy;  Religion 'after Religion'; and Bullshit. My reading also sometimes drifts into Psychology and the Social World.

Obviously the selection of quotations reflect my own biases and preferences. I usually only put things in double quotes where it is exactly what the author (or another person whom the author quotes) said. The bits in brackets, e.g. [RT: xxx] are thoughts that I have added.

I realize that I've dropped a lot of names and reproduced a lot of the authors' fancy words. So, as time has gone on, I have added hyperlinks to many names, topics and other reading sources. This is in case you, as the reader, aren't familiar with some of these, or you need some more background or clarification. In many cases, the hyperlinks are to English language Wikipedia entries. These seem to me to "grind the fewest axes" (see also this comment). Post-modernists and others might accuse Wikipedia of cultural bias, but if so it's the bias of "the average decent citizen who does not beat his wife and who certainly does not maltreat his dog" (Alistair Kee, 'The Way of Transcendence' p227 - see below).

In most cases I have started off with a short summary - and sometimes afterthoughts as well - but I don't pretend to offer any serious reviews.

Highlights currently available
(classified by topic first, alphabetic by author below)

General Philosophy

Hannah Arendt - The Life of Mind (and etc) Alain de Botton - Consolations of Philosophy Alexander George - I Am, Therefore I Think Joey Green - Philosophy on the Go
Stephen Law - The Philosophy Gym Bryan Magee - The Great Philosophers (edited transcript of TV series) Adam Morton - Philosophy in Practice Dave Robinson - Introducing Kirkegaard
Laurie Spurling - Phenomenology and the Social World (based on Merleau-Ponty)      

Emotions

Gillian Bendelow & Simon Williams (eds) - Emotions in Social Life Anthony Hatzimoysis - Philosophy and the Emotions    

Epistemology (i.e. what can we know?, what is reality?, and what is truth?)

Adam Morton - Theory of Knowledge WV Quine - The Pursuit of Truth Richard Rorty - Truth and Progress John Searle - The Construction of Social Reality

Ethics (how should we live a good life)

Joseph Badaracco - Questions of Character Richard Holloway - Between the Monster and the Saint Stephen Law - The War for Childrens Minds Dave Robinson - Ethics for Beginners

Existentialism (we're here because we're here)

David Cooper - Existentialism Gary Cox - How to be an Existentialist Michael Allen Fox - The Remarkable Existentialists Samuel Todes - Body and World

Judgment, Leadership and Management

Tom Atchison - Followership Beck, Giddens & Lash - Reflexive Modernization Howard Gardner - The Disciplined Mind Mark Gerzon - Leading Through Conflict
Grant, Keenoy & Oswick - Discourse and Organization Daniel Kahneman - Thinking Fast and Slow Barbara Kellerman - Followership  

Meaning (what do people want when they utter something)

Grant, Keenoy & Oswick - Discourse and Organization Ogden & Richards - Meaning of Meaning Michael Polanyi & Harry Prosch - Meaning Anton Zijderveld - On Clichés

Narrative and Stories

Alex Callinicos - Theories and Narratives Anthony Paul Kerby - The Narrative of Self Cristopher Nash (ed) - Narrative in Culture  

Popular Culture

Marcel Danesi - Popular Culture Daniel Harris - Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic    

Religion (comparative and post-theist)

Jonathan AC Brown - Misquoting Muhammad Edward De Bono - The Happiness Purpose Flew, MacIntyre (eds) - New Essays in Philosophical Theology Sigmund Freud - The Future of an Illusion
Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet Richard Holloway - Leaving Alexandria John Humphrys - In God We Doubt Aldous Huxley - The Perennial Philosophy
Alistair Kee - The Way of Transcendence Anthony Kenny - Ch 12 (God) of Philosophy in the Modern World Holy Koran Momen - The Baha'i Faith
Park - Superstition DZ Phillips (ed) - Religion and Understanding Robert Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, also Lila John AT Robinson - Honest to God
Loyal Rue - Religion is not about God John Shelby Spong - A New Christianity for a New World Wafa Sultan - A God Who Hates Teilhard de Chardin - The Phenomenon of Man
Thai Information Service - About Buddhism Turner - Understanding the Revised Mass Texts Owe Wikström - The Icon in My Pocket  

Psychology and Science

Bill Bryson - Seeing Further (stories about Britain's 'Royal Society') Stephen Hall - Wisdom: from Philosophy to Neuroscience Aldous Huxley's "Drugs Trilogy" William James - Talks to Teachers on Psychology
Richard Layard - Happiness Michael Losier - The Law of Connection M Scott Peck - The Road Less Traveled  

Society and Human Relationships

Erich Fromm - The Art of Loving Bernard Guerin - Social Strategies of Everyday Life(mini-essay) Axel Honneth & Nancy Fraser - Redistribution or Recognition? Karl Popper - The Open Society and its Enemies
Michael Sandel - Liberalism and the Limits of Justice John Sitton - Habermas and Contemporary Society    

Critical Reading and Rhetoric

Kenneth Burke (to come later) Fraser & Davidson - Analyze Anything Jennifer Richards - Rhetoric Denys Thompson - Reading & Discrimination
Judith Williamson - Decoding Advertisements      

Bullshit

Nick Davies - Flat Earth News Madsen Pirie - How to Win Every Argument Schopenhauer's 38 Tricks D Southwell - Secrets and Lies (mini essay)
Richard Thouless's 38 Tricks Francis Wheen - How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World Richard Wilson - Don't Get Fooled Again  

Alphabetic List by Author

Arendt, Hannah Badaracco, Joseph Bendelow, Gillian Brown, Jonathan AC Bryson, Bill
Callinicos, Alex Cooper, David E Cox, Gary    
Danesi, Marcel Davies, Nick De Bono, Edward De Botton, Alain  
Flew, Antony Fox, Michael Allen Fraser, Gregory Fraser, Nancy Freud, Sigmund
Fromm, Erich George, Alexander Gerzon, Mark Gibran, Kahlil Giddens, Anthony
Grant, David Green, Joey Hall, Stephen S Harris, Daniel Hatzimoysis, Anthony
Holloway, Richard, Monster-Saint Holloway, Richard, Alexandria Honneth, Axel Humphrys, John  
Huxley, Aldous, Drugs Huxley, Aldous, Perennial James, William Kahneman, Daniel Kee, Alistair
Kenny, Anthony Kerby, Anthony Paul Lash, Scott Law, Stephen, Philo Gym Law, Stephen, Children's Minds
Layard, Richard Losier, Michael MacIntyre, Alasdair Magee, Bryan Momen, Mojan
Morton, Adam, Phil in Prac Morton, Adam, Th of Knowl Nash, Cristopher Ogden, CK & Richards, IA Park, Robert L
Peck, M Scott Phillips, Dewi Z Pirie, Madsen Pirsig, Robert M Polanyi, Michael
Popper, Karl Prophet Mohammad PBUH Prosch, Harry Quine, Willard van O  
Richards, Jennifer Robinson, Dave, Ethics Robinson, Dave, Kirkegaard Robinson, John AT Rorty, Richard
Rue, Loyal Sandel, Michael J Schopenhauer, Arthur Searle, John R Sitton, John
Spong, John S Spurling, Laurie Sultan, Wafa Teilhard de Chardin, P Thailand Info Service
Thompson, Denys Thouless, Robert Todes, Samuel Turner, Fr Paul Wheen, Francis
Wikström, Owe Williams, Simon Williamson, Judith Wilson, Richard Zijderveld, Anton

A longer reading list is also available - this includes a number of items related to Information Systems as well as directly FROLIO-related issues.

Explanations of major components in FROLIO

Abstract concepts Activities What we can say about things and concepts What we mean by Context
Why simple hierarchies aren't enough Different types of Ideas Things, concepts, objects and classes Scenarios and "states of affairs"
Different sorts of Structures      

FROLIO project home page

Some of these links may be under construction – or re-construction.

This version updated on 21st December 2016

If you have constructive suggestions or comments, please contact the author rogertag@tpg.com.au