Handbook
Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence
Create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries.
Updated
Definition
Create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries.
Coverage role
Supports new science, product categories, organizational language, metrics, taxonomies, and cross-intelligence interoperability by creating semantic primitives rather than only new labels.
Scope
Included
- conceptual gap detection
- phenomenon and example collection
- characteristic analysis
- contrast-set construction
- definition design
- designation and naming
- ontology placement
- operationalization
- counterexample testing
- concept lifecycle and deprecation
Excluded and non-goals
- renaming an existing concept without added meaning
- creating jargon to obscure uncertainty
- treating a label as evidence that an entity exists
- encoding discriminatory categories as natural facts
- claiming universal cultural equivalence
- silently changing the meaning of an established ID
Boundary rules
- Route to general.concept-invention when the requested outcome requires one or more declared capabilities and the output can be represented by its canonical artifacts.
- Route to an adjacent or specialist intelligence when domain-specific rules, tools, or professional authority dominate the problem.
- Use general.reasoning to coordinate multi-pack conflicts, hard constraints, uncertainty, and decision status.
- Return ask, defer, or escalate when required context, source authority, consent, or accountable ownership is missing.
Capability semantics
| Capability ID | Name | Semantic intent |
|---|---|---|
capability.general.concept-invention.detect_conceptual_gap |
Detect Conceptual Gap | Identify repeated cases that existing concepts merge incorrectly, exclude, or represent only through cumbersome descriptions. |
capability.general.concept-invention.collect_examples_and_counterexamples |
Collect Examples And Counterexamples | Build a varied set of positive, negative, borderline, adversarial, and cross-cultural cases. |
capability.general.concept-invention.identify_essential_characteristics |
Identify Essential Characteristics | Separate defining characteristics from typical, accidental, measurable, and context-dependent properties. |
capability.general.concept-invention.construct_contrast_set |
Construct Contrast Set | Position the proposed concept against nearest neighbors, opposites, broader classes, narrower classes, and orthogonal dimensions. |
capability.general.concept-invention.draft_definition_candidates |
Draft Definition Candidates | Produce intensional, extensional, operational, and ostensive definitions with declared use contexts. |
capability.general.concept-invention.select_designation_and_labels |
Select Designation And Labels | Choose stable names, aliases, multilingual labels, and identifiers while checking collision, bias, and misleading connotation. |
capability.general.concept-invention.integrate_ontology |
Integrate Ontology | Create broader, narrower, related, equivalent, disjoint, dependency, and mapping relations without breaking existing invariants. |
capability.general.concept-invention.operationalize_concept |
Operationalize Concept | Define observable indicators, decision rules, measurement limits, and cases that remain undecidable. |
capability.general.concept-invention.validate_and_evolve_concept |
Validate And Evolve Concept | Run boundary tests, collect usage feedback, version the concept, and deprecate or split it when evidence requires. |
Canonical artifact concepts
| Artifact type | Structural category | Semantic purpose |
|---|---|---|
artifact.general.concept-invention.concept_gap_brief |
brief | Concept Gap Brief for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A bounded specification of purpose, stakeholders, requirements, constraints, assumptions, and success criteria. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.example_counterexample_corpus |
structured_output | Example Counterexample Corpus for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A typed domain output that preserves purpose, context, evidence, assumptions, status, and next action. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.characteristic_matrix |
model | Characteristic Matrix for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A purpose-bounded representation of entities, relationships, assumptions, boundaries, and evidence of adequacy. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.contrast_set |
portfolio | Contrast Set for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A deliberately varied set of candidates with lineage, constraints, screening state, and selection rationale. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.definition_candidate_set |
brief | Definition Candidate Set for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A bounded specification of purpose, stakeholders, requirements, constraints, assumptions, and success criteria. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.designation_and_naming_record |
ledger | Designation And Naming Record for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A controlled collection of uniquely identified entries with ownership, provenance, status, and review state. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.ontology_patch |
ledger | Ontology Patch for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A controlled collection of uniquely identified entries with ownership, provenance, status, and review state. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.operationalization_specification |
brief | Operationalization Specification for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A bounded specification of purpose, stakeholders, requirements, constraints, assumptions, and success criteria. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.concept_validation_report |
analysis | Concept Validation Report for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: An evidence-linked assessment that states criteria, findings, uncertainty, limitations, status, and action. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
artifact.general.concept-invention.concept_version_and_deprecation_record |
ledger | Concept Version And Deprecation Record for Concept Invention and Ontology Formation Intelligence: A controlled collection of uniquely identified entries with ownership, provenance, status, and review state. It supports the pack purpose of create a new concept when existing language cannot express a recurring, decision-relevant distinction, and integrate that concept into a coherent ontology with testable boundaries. |
Method families and limits
| Method ID | Method | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
method.general.concept-invention.terminological_concept_analysis |
terminological concept analysis | Use when existing concepts collapse important distinctions, create repeated ambiguity, or cannot support required measurement, policy, or interoperability. | Avoid inventing a new term when an adequate established concept exists or defining by circular, culturally narrow, or untestable language. |
method.general.concept-invention.intensional_and_extensional_definition |
intensional and extensional definition | Use when existing concepts collapse important distinctions, create repeated ambiguity, or cannot support required measurement, policy, or interoperability. | Avoid inventing a new term when an adequate established concept exists or defining by circular, culturally narrow, or untestable language. |
method.general.concept-invention.prototype_and_family_resemblance_analysis |
prototype and family-resemblance analysis | Use when existing concepts collapse important distinctions, create repeated ambiguity, or cannot support required measurement, policy, or interoperability. | Avoid inventing a new term when an adequate established concept exists or defining by circular, culturally narrow, or untestable language. |
method.general.concept-invention.necessary_and_sufficient_characteristic_testing |
necessary and sufficient characteristic testing | Use when existing concepts collapse important distinctions, create repeated ambiguity, or cannot support required measurement, policy, or interoperability. | Avoid inventing a new term when an adequate established concept exists or defining by circular, culturally narrow, or untestable language. |
method.general.concept-invention.minimal_pair_contrast |
minimal-pair contrast | Use when existing concepts collapse important distinctions, create repeated ambiguity, or cannot support required measurement, policy, or interoperability. | Avoid inventing a new term when an adequate established concept exists or defining by circular, culturally narrow, or untestable language. |
method.general.concept-invention.ontology_and_concept_scheme_mapping |
ontology and concept-scheme mapping | Use when existing concepts collapse important distinctions, create repeated ambiguity, or cannot support required measurement, policy, or interoperability. | Avoid inventing a new term when an adequate established concept exists or defining by circular, culturally narrow, or untestable language. |
method.general.concept-invention.counterexample_and_borderline_case_analysis |
counterexample and borderline-case analysis | Use when confidence in a claim, rule, model, concept, or design depends on actively searching for observations that would make it false or too broad. | Avoid weak straw-man alternatives, changing the claim after failure, or treating failure to find a counterexample as proof under an unbounded search. |
method.general.concept-invention.operational_definition_design |
operational definition design | Use when existing concepts collapse important distinctions, create repeated ambiguity, or cannot support required measurement, policy, or interoperability. | Avoid inventing a new term when an adequate established concept exists or defining by circular, culturally narrow, or untestable language. |
method.general.concept-invention.semantic_versioning |
semantic versioning | Use when changes to a concept, schema, artifact, model, or interface may affect compatibility, meaning, downstream behavior, or reproducibility. | Avoid silent breaking changes, version numbers without change semantics, or deprecating an identifier without migration and expiry rules. |
Pack-specific invariants
The pack also inherits the core invariants in core/core_invariants.yaml.
| Invariant ID | Statement | Failure action |
|---|---|---|
invariant.general.concept-invention.01_a_new_concept_must_address_a_documented_semantic_or_operat |
A new concept must address a documented semantic or operational gap rather than only provide a new name. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.concept-invention.02_the_concept_its_designation_and_the_real_or_proposed_pheno |
The concept, its designation, and the real or proposed phenomena it denotes are kept distinct. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.concept-invention.03_definitions_avoid_circularity_and_identify_their_intended |
Definitions avoid circularity and identify their intended domain and level of abstraction. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.concept-invention.04_positive_negative_borderline_and_counterexample_cases_are |
Positive negative borderline and counterexample cases are retained. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.concept-invention.05_relations_to_nearest_existing_concepts_and_compatibility_m |
Relations to nearest existing concepts and compatibility mappings are explicit. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.concept-invention.06_operational_indicators_do_not_silently_replace_the_concept |
Operational indicators do not silently replace the concept itself. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.concept-invention.07_meaning_changes_require_a_new_version_migration_rule_or_de |
Meaning changes require a new version, migration rule, or deprecation record. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.concept-invention.08_naming_and_classification_are_reviewed_for_cultural_ethica |
Naming and classification are reviewed for cultural, ethical, accessibility, and discrimination risks. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
Dependencies and relations
Operational general intelligences: None
Foundation concepts: general.semantic-representational, general.logical-constraint, general.epistemic-evidence, general.cultural-contextual, general.ethical-normative, general.analogical-transfer
Life intelligences: None
Source roles
| Source ID | Claim roles | Runtime resolution required |
|---|---|---|
iso.terminology_704 |
concept_definition, interoperability_or_formal_contract | False |
w3c.skos |
concept_definition, interoperability_or_formal_contract | False |
unesco.mil |
competence_framework, concept_definition, evaluation_dimension | False |
local.community |
jurisdiction_rule, runtime_fact, service_or_community_context | True |
Risk and authority boundary
Risk class: moderate
- The concept classifies protected, vulnerable, clinical, legal, security, or high-impact populations.
- The concept may become a policy eligibility rule, diagnosis, risk score, or automated decision feature.
- The proposed concept conflicts with an established regulated terminology or interoperability standard.
Accountable people retain consent, value, regulated, irreversible, and residual-risk decisions. This semantic page does not claim a deployed implementation.
Maturity
semantic: S3_reviewable_definition
contract: C3_testable_contract
implementation: I0_not_included
evidence: E2_source_roles_mapped
governance: G2_controls_and_review_defined
overlay: O2_paired_seed_complete
Paired overlay
Runtime maturity
- Capabilities: 9
- Technical floor→ceiling:
I1_runtime→I1_runtime - Autonomy floor→ceiling:
A0_assisted→A0_assisted - I1_runtime count: 9
- Evidence class:
contract: 9 - Full hierarchy: MATURITY-HIERARCHY.md
Evaluation suite status
- CI status:
pass - Suite:
evaluation_suites/concept-invention.yaml - Cases defined: 7
- Capabilities under test: 9