Origin
The concept pages of this project are derived from a formal ontology of human personhood that the author developed on the basis of his dissertation:
Bexten, Raphael E. (2017). Was ist menschliches Personsein? Der Mensch im Spannungsfeld von Personvergessenheit und unverlierbarer ontologischer Würde. Dissertation. Eichstätt.
The ontology formalizes the central concepts, relations and axioms of the dissertation in a logically rigorous, contradiction-free structure. The concept pages translate this formal structure back into intelligible language — they make visible what the ontology records in its classes, relations and axioms.
The thoughts, arguments and philosophical positions are the author’s own. They arise from his current work on the ontology and, in many fields of application — such as artificial intelligence, AI ethics, war, technology, money, power, care — go beyond the dissertation.
Instrumental AI assistance
In producing the concept pages, an artificial intelligence (Claude by Anthropic) was used as an instrumental aid — according to the same methodology described in the preface (German) for the text of the book. The AI helped with formulation and structuring, but the philosophical contents — concepts, axioms, relations, ethical judgments — come from the author’s ontology.
The AI is itself not a subject of cognition: it possesses neither capacity for truth nor conscience, neither insight nor self-consciousness (cf. artificial intelligence). It is a tool — something, not someone.
Ontological foundation
Every concept page states the class, superordinate concepts and relations to which the respective concept is assigned in the ontology (“Ontological classification”). These statements correspond to the formal definitions in the ontology and are verifiable.
The ontology itself claims complete freedom from contradiction — every axiom is compatible with all the others. More on this under About the Project: Complete Freedom from Contradiction (German).
Note on ethical judgments
In accordance with the logic of the ontology, the ethical judgments on the concept pages refer exclusively to actions — never to persons. Every person possesses inalienable dignity, regardless of what they do or have done. The Personalist Norm holds always and without exception.
More on this: Note on ethical judgments (German)
Raphael E. Bexten