1. 1 How to Rent a Car (and Why you Can’t Rent a Person): The Ontology of Production and Consumption Barry Smith http://ontologist.com

2. 2 Nouns and verbs Substances and processes Endurants and perdurents In preparing an inventory of reality we keep track of these two different categories of entities in two different ways

3. 3 Natural language glues them together indiscriminately substance t i m e process

4. 4 Snapshot vs. Video substance t i m e process

5. 5 SNAP vs SPAN substance t i m e process

6. 6 Three kinds of SNAP entities 1.Substances 2.Qualities, Powers, Functions, Roles 3.Spatial Regions, Contexts, Niches ARISTOTLE’S BICATEGORIAL ONTOLOGY OF Substances and Accidents FANTOLOGY HAS JUST: ‘F’ and ‘a’

7. 7 Three kinds of SNAP entities 1.Substances 2.Qualities, Powers, Functions, Roles 3.Spatial Regions, Contexts, Niches ARISTOTLE’S BICATEGORIAL ONTOLOGY OF Substances and Accidents FANTOLOGY HAS JUST: ‘F’ and ‘a’

8. 8 Substances Mesoscopic reality is divided at its natural joints into substances: animals, bones, rocks, potatoes

9. 9 SPQR entities States, powers, qualities, roles your knowledge of Greek John’s debts my permission to drive Sam’s bank balance = dependent endurants

10. 10 SPQR … entities States, powers, qualities, roles … functions, dispositions, plans, shapes, status, habitus, liabilities … = dependent SNAP entities

11. 11 SPQR … entities: one-place: your temperature, color, height my knowledge of French the whiteness of this cheese the warmth of this stone the fragility of this glass

12. 12 relational SPQR … entities John Mary love stand in relations of one-sided dependence to a plurality of substances simultaneously specific dependence

13. 13 Generic dependence of relational SPQR… entities legal systems languages (as systems of competences) religions (as systems of beliefs) systems of trust and large-scale social conventions

14. 14 Two kinds of SPAN entities 1.Processes, Events, Actions 2.Spatio-temporal regions, Behavior Settings, Spatio- temporal niches

15. 15 Processes Processes merge into one another Process kinds merge into one another … few clean joints either between instances or between types

16. 16 Processes t i m e

17. 17 Some clean joints derive from the fact that processes are dependent on substances (my headache is cleanly demarcated from your headache)

18. 18 Some clean joints in realms of artefactual processes: weddings on-line trades dog shows rental contract terms sharp divisions imputed via clocks, calendars

19. 19 segmentation of perdurants via dependence on endurants can be relational the Franco-Prussian war is cleanly demarcated from the War of the Spanish Succession

20. 20 Substances and processes t i m e process demand different sorts of inventories

21. 21 Substances demand 3-D partonomies space

22. 22 Processes demand 4D-partonomies t i m e

23. 23 Processes have temporal parts The first 5 minutes of my headache is a temporal part of my headache The first game of the match is a temporal part of the whole match

24. 24 Substances and SPQR entities do not have temporal parts The first 5-minute phase of my existence is not a temporal part of me It is a temporal part of that complex process which is my life

25. 25 States, Powers, Qualities, Roles, Functions, Dispositions, Plans do not have temporal parts … and similarly: spatial regions, contexts, niches do not have temporal parts

26. 26 Substances have spatial parts Substance is one thing The life of a substance is another thing

27. 27 You are a substance Your life is a process You are 3-dimensional Your life is 4-dimensional

28. 28 Endurants and perdurants form two distinct orders of being Substances exist as a whole at every point in time at which they exist at all Processes unfold themselves through time, and are never present in full at any given instant during which they exist. When do both exist to be inventoried together?

29. 29 A good formal ontology must divide into two sub-ontologies: 1.a SNAPshot ontology of those things which do not have temporal parts 2.an ontology of the plenitude of processes SPANning the whole of time

30. 30 These represent two views of the same rich and messy reality, the reality captured promiscuously by natural language

31. 31 The SPAN Ontology t i m e

32. 32 boundaries are mostly fiat t i m e everything is flux

33. 33 t i m e invasion of Iraq

34. 34 here time exists as part of the domain of the ontology

35. 35 The SNAP Ontologies t1t1 t3t3 t2t2 here time exists outside the ontology, as an index or time-stamp

36. 36

37. 37 each section through reality includes everything which exists at the corresponding now

38. 38 SNAP: Entities existing in toto at a time

39. 39

40. 40

41. 41 SNAP

42. 42 SPAN: Entities extended in time

43. 43 SPAN: Entities extended in time

44. 44 SPAN: Entities extended in time

45. 45 The ontologies here indicated are partial only (they are windows on just that portion of reality which is visible through the given ontology).

46. 46

47. 47 Need for different perspectives Not one ontology, but a multiplicity of complementary ontologies Cf. anatomy vs. physiology in medicine Cf. particle vs. wave ontologies in quantum mechanics

48. 48 Spatial regions, contexts, niches, environments Organism species evolve into environments Domesticated spatial regions: rooms, nostrils, your alimentary tract Fiat spatial regions: JFK designated airspace

49. 49

50. 50 Behavior Settings SPAN’s spatiotemporal regions include behavior settings (the 5pm train to Long Island, the early morning swim, your meeting with the Dean).

51. 51 4-dimensional environments Lobsters have evolved into environments marked by cyclical patterns of temperature change Tudor England The Afghan winter The window of opportunity for an invasion of Iraq

52. 52 Two Orthogonal and Complementary Perspectives SNAP and SPAN

53. 53 Processes, too, are dependent on substances One-place vs. relational processes One-place processes: your getting warmer your getting hungrier

54. 54 Examples of relational processes kissings, thumpings, conversations, dancings, join their carriers together into collectives of greater or lesser duration

55. 55 The bridge Many formal relations are not captured by either SNAP or SPAN because they traverse the SNAP- SPAN divide they glue SNAP and SPAN entities together

56. 56 Bridging relations dependence individuation (substances individuate processes) segmentation (substances segment processes)

57. 57 Example: Ontological Dependence (SPAN, SNAP): process  substance The erosion of the rock necessitates the existence of the rock (SNAP, SNAP): SPQR  substance The token redness of the sand necessitates the existence of the sand

58. 58 SNAP  SPAN Substance  Process PARTICIPATION (a species of dependence)

59. 59 Axes of variation activity/passivity (  agentive) direct/mediated benefactor/malefactor (  conducive to existence) [MEDICINE, SOCIAL REALITY]

60. 60 SNAP-SPAN Participation Perpetration (+agentive) Initiation Perpetuation Termination Influence Facilitation Hindrance Mediation Patiency (-agentive)

61. 61 Perpetration A substance perpetrates an action (direct and agentive participation in a process): The referee fires the starting-pistol The captain gives the order

62. 62 Initiation A substance initiates a process: The referee starts the race

63. 63 Perpetuation A substance sustains a process: The singer sings the song The division holds the enemy at bay

64. 64 Termination A substance terminates a process: The judge terminates the imprisonment of the pardoned convict

65. 65 Influence A substance (or its quality) has an effect on a process The politicians influence the course of the war

66. 66 Hindrance, prevention A substance has a negative effect on the unfolding of a process (by participating in other processes) The strikers prevent the airplane from departing

67. 67 Mediation A substance plays an indirect role in the unfolding of a process relating other participants: The Norwegians mediate the discussions between the warring parties

68. 68 Signatures of meta-relations SNAP ComponentSPAN Component Substances SPQR… Spatial Regions Processes Space-Time Regions participation realization

69. 69 Realization ( SPQR  process) The most general relation between a an SPQR … entity and a process: The power to legislate is realized through the passing of a law

70. 70 Realization (SNAP-SPAN) the execution of a plan, algorithm the expression of a function the exercise of a role the realization of a disposition

71. 71 SPQR… entities and their SPAN realizations plan function role disposition algorithm SNAP

72. 72 SPQR… entities and their SPAN realizations execution expression exercise realization application course SPAN

73. 73 Material examples: performance of a symphony projection of a film expression of an emotion utterance of a sentence application of a therapy course of a disease increase of temperature

74. 74 SNAP  SPAN Participation Substance  Process Realization SPQR  Process

75. 75 Generating a typology Two main types of formal relations: meta-ontological: obtain between entities of different ontologies intra-ontological: obtain between entities of the same ontology (intra- SNAP, intra-SPAN)

76. 76 Participation and realization are exclusively meta-ontological (They cross the SNAP-SPAN divide) Compare Reinach on transcategorial relations: the bonds of social reality

77. 77 Part-Whole, in contrast, is exclusively intra-ontological: either SNAP-SNAP or SPAN-SPAN. and SNAP-SNAP: only if the SNAP i s have the same temporal index

78. 78 Relations crossing the SNAP/SPAN border are never part-relations John’s life substance John physiological processes sustaining in existence

79. 79 Granularity spatial regionsubstance parts of substances are always substances

80. 80 Granularity spatial regionsubstance parts of spatial regions are always spatial regions

81. 81 Granularity process parts of processes are always processes

82. 82 PART

83. 83

84. 84 SNAP and SPAN in the Ontology of Economic Reality stocks and flows products and manufacturing processes commodities and services

85. 85 APPLICATION National Income Statistics sub-categorized according to whether provided by Government, Private Enterprise, Charities, etc. Commodities (Manufacturing) Services Other

86. 86 APPLICATION The Ontology of National Income Statistics (with thanks to Wolfgang Grassl): from the Producer’s Perspective from the Government’s Perspective from the Consumer’s Perspective from a Neutral, Ontological Perspective

87. 87 What is a commodity? A SNAP entity An apple A book A car An overhead projector

88. 88 What is a service? A SPAN entity a movement an installation a repair an act of programming an act of singing an act of lecturing

89. 89 What are you paying for when you buy a railway ticket? A commodity? A service? Something else? (A license/permission) Ontology of records and representations

90. 90 Music What is the CD, which you buy in a shop?

91. 91 Is it a commodity? Or is it a service? Producer’s perspective Government’s perspective Consumer’s perspective

92. 92 US Government treat music CDs as belonging to the service industry of music [music a Fine Art; much finer than mere manufacturing] thus CD sales are reckoned on the service side of National Income Statistics (product of producers’ lobbying)

93. 93 Confusion “Services industries are areas of high economic growth in modern economies” Service industries include manufacture of CDs, CD-Roms, shrink-wrapped software …

94. 94  Two kinds of services Embodied = tied directly to specific human actions Disembodied/Splintered = floating free from the human actions which initiated them

95. 95 Embodied Services haircuttingLPs, CDs consultingbooks, newspapers nursingpaintings prostitutionadvertising teachingtelevision, telephone transportsoftware on the net

96. 96 Disembodied/Splintered Services haircuttingLPs, CDs consultingbooks, newspapers nursingpaintings prostitutionadvertising teachingtelevision, telephone transportsoftware on the net

97. 97 Embodied and Splintered Services EmbodiedDisembodied/Splintered haircuttingLPs, CDs consultingbooks, newspapers nursingpaintings prostitutionadvertising teachingtelevision, telephone transportsoftware on the net

98. 98 A Better Definition Service = an economic good for which production and consumption spatiotemporally coincide (hairdressing) Since all consumption is SPAN, all services (all token deliveries of services) are SPAN entities

99. 99 Coincidence can be shifted in time Theater (services) Live television (services) vs Taped television (services) vs. Buying a Video, Renting a Video (Commodity)

100. 100 ‘splintered’ (‘disembodied’) services (CDs, books …) are wrongly classified they are not services at all because their production and consumption do not coincide Services are time-perishable.

101. 101 Embodied and Splintered Services EmbodiedDisembodied/Splintered haircuttingLPs, CDs consultingbooks, newspapers nursingpaintings prostitutionadvertising teachingtelevision, telephone transportsoftware on the net

102. 102 Is a CD a commodity or a service? Authorized view: when I buy a CD I am really buying the services of a composer and performers. (SPAN) -- the CD is an incidental CONDUIT Correct view: I am buying a commodity, which is ontologically no different from a car or a bag of rice. (SNAP)

103. 103 Is telephone-connection a commodity or a service? What does your contract with the telephone company give you? A mixture of things But mixtures can be analytically unpacked

104. 104 5. Mixed Categories (Bundles) Augmented products – car plus warranty, etc. Bundled club memberships How classify bundles in national income statistics

105. 105 Two Kinds of Commodities consumable (bananas) and non-consumable (roads, telephone lines) SNAP The latter afford services SPAN as an ocean affords swimming

106. 106 When you sign a contract with the telephone country you are renting the whole telephone net (whether this is made of wires or radio- transmitters) the telephone net is a SNAP entity therefore: IT IS NOT A SERVICE as contrasted with telephone sex

107. 107 Telecommunications belong to the commodities category We rent the telephone system for 25 seconds each time we use it Telecommunications are like water or electricity = Commodities, which come down pipes

108. 108 Strict, independent services Dependent Services Selling manufactured goods Renting manufactured goods haircuttingadvertisingLPs, CDscar rental consultingselling, transport books, newspapers telecommunications nursinginput service (typing) paintingroad networks wired networks prostitutionadvertising teaching live television and theatre performances television and theatre technical services software on the net

109. 109 Television and telecommunications are similar ontologically: each has two components: the network and the utilization of the network = continuants plus occurrents SNAP plus SPAN

110. 110 From the consumer’s perspective however television is a service industry: we watch television in order to enjoy the services of the actors Here the network and delivery mechanism are secondary. Not so for telephone ‘service’: We want to use the actual physical mechanical network object Telecommunications NOT A SERVICE INDUSTRY

111. 111 Telephones and the telephone network are physical commodities. They are regarded as services because they afford usage (they have the power, the dispositional property, of providing services). The traditional categorization is erroneous, because this dispositional property applies no less to cars, pianos, rice.

112. 112 Telecommunications is an industry analogous to car rental When we rent a car we rent the whole car (not a temporal part of the car, since cars are SNAP entities and do not have temporal parts) When we sign a contract with a telephone company we rent the whole network …

113. 113 One difference: When you rent a house or car, you want to disinclude others Not so when you rent the telephone network (necessarily not so)

114. 114 The Ontology of Renting

115. 115 Car rental is like home rental it is the purchase of an endurant for a certain time

116. 116 Phone sex, like other stuff which comes down the phone line for payment, is a service. But the telecommunication system itself is a commodity, which we rent Proof: You still pay for your telephone connection when no one is using the line. You still pay for your rental car when you are not driving it

117. 117 Axiom: You can’t rent a service (ontologically incoherent) You can’t rent a SPAN entity

118. 118 The category of genuine services – where production and consumption coincide both spatially and temporally – is characterized by the fact that rental is impossible. Such services (like all genuine services) can only be purchased.

119. 119 Dependent services What of: Sales and marketing? Transport and shipping services (taxi services)? Insurance services ? Protection services?

120. 120 An adequate ontology of marketing must include three categories: Things (commodities) Processes (production, consumption, sale): of services of commodities Settings (environments, niches, contexts): for production, consumption and sale

121. 121 The value of a commodity is dependent upon the setting in which it exists at the moment of purchase (luxurious BMW car showroom) The value of a service is dependent upon the setting in which it exists at the moment of delivery (luxurious hairdressing salon)

122. 122 Settings Axiom: When you buy a service you also buy a delivery setting. And the delivery setting has the same temporal extent as the service itself. (Hairdressers) The delivery setting for commodities is transient. They bring you the car and leave.

123. 123 Settings the ensemble of environmental features within which a purchase is made (environmental features which are relevant to the purchase). WHEN BUYING A CAR WHEN BUYING A HAIRCUT

124. 124 More on the ontology of services A service is the actualization of a disposition. Therefore you cannot render the same service twice. (Type-token distinction. Every haircut is unique.)

125. 125 More on the ontology of services The service is the action, not the result It is the haircutting, not the resulting pattern in the hair on your head

126. 126 Ontological categories we need: 1.Independent SNAP entities 1a. Persons 1b. Material things 1c. Stuffs: water, oil

127. 127 2. Dependent SNAP entities 2. SPQR (may be the outcomes of processes, or realized in, processes) 2a. Mental states (happiness) 2b. Physical states of persons (health, beauty) 2c. Physical states of material things (plumbing system) 2d. Dispositions, powers

128. 128 3. SPAN entities 3a. Willed processes (processes produced on demand) (i) Actions (ii) Processes in material things produced on demand (explosions, movements of dentists‘ drills) 3b. Natural processes (a tree growing) 3c. Mental processes

129. 129 Settings (more SNAP entities) 4a. Of purchase 4b. Of delivery (for commodities) 4c. Of use (for commodities) 4d. Of delivery (for services)

130. 130 A CD is a commodity because one can either buy it or rent it.

131. 131 What‘s the difference between renting and owning Renting has to do with control, with power over, for a specified time Ownership can survive without control.

132. 132 Definition of renting x rents y to z : x owns y and x allows z to use y for a limited time in exchange for recompense proportionate to the length of time involved. (There is an assumption that y will be available for multiple time periods.) (Sub-letting as an iteration)

133. 133 Theorem: There is nothing which can only be rented Proof: From the definition of renting

134. 134 An Ontology of Prostitution and Slavery A1 x is a commodity : x is necessarily of such a sort that it can either be bought or rented. A2 x is a service : x is necessarily of such a sort that it can only be bought. A3 x is a person  x is necessarily of such a sort that it can neither be bought nor rented A4 people cannot own other people

135. 135 Theorem: There is nothing which can only be rented Proof: From the definition of renting Therefore: You cannot rent people

136. 136 You cannot rent people What is involved in employing people? Do you buy their labour or do you rent their labour. Marx: the commonsensical view according to which we can rent or hire bodyguards is mistaken. We do not rent bodyguards; we buy the services of bodyguards for given time periods.

137. 137 Why is this ontologically different from renting? Because when you rent something, this thing exists for a period of time beyond the rental time, and can in principle be rented again. Services, however, are time- perishable.

138. 138 Counter-argument Surely you can rent a bodyguard, because the bodyguard exists for a longer period of time than the time in which you rent him. No: you buy the services of the person

139. 139 Hill: A service is the outcome of an activity (it is a change as result, rather than a change as action) Problem with this is e.g. preventive medicine, which are activities designed to prevent certain outcomes. Services are in some ways analogous to public goods. They manifest the features of non-excludability and non- rivalry. The same service provider can provide consecutive services. Modern telecommunications services, theater performances, can provide the same service simultaneously to many people. Theater performances are impure public goods (club goods).

140. 140 Is software a service? When you buy a piece of shrink- wrapped software you sign a license agreement. Is this renting software? Are things any different if you download the software from the internet? If it becomes unusable after 30 days?

141. 141 Can you buy a setting? When you buy real estate, you buy a house and you also buy its setting Real estate is a commodity But it is like services in that its setting endures for as long as it does Adam Smith: real estate is the only economic good that is not perishable.

142. 142 Services can never be assets Assets can always be depreciated. People cannot be depreciated. People cannot be assets Know-how is an asset. You can buy know-how (like brand equity) Know-how is a SNAP entity (a QPFR) Application of know-how is a SPAN entity (a process)