Abstract

Exceptions play an important role in conceptualizing data,
especially when new knowledge is introduced or existing knowledge changes. Furthermore, real-world data often is contradictory and uncertain.
Current formalisms for conceptualizing data like Description Logics rely upon first-order logic. As a consequence, they are poor in addressing exceptional, inconsistent and uncertain data, in particular when evolving the knowledge base over time.
This paper investigates the use of Probabilistic Description Logics as a formalism for the evolution of ontologies that conceptualize real-world data. Different scenarios are presented for the automatic handling of inconsistencies
during ontology evolution.