An application of philosophy in software modelling and future information systems development

The influence of mainstream philosophy on conceptual modelling and on modelling language development has historically been arcane or, at best, not recognized, whilst modellers might in fact implicitly espouse one particular philosophical tenet. This paper describes and discusses philosophical stances applied to conceptual modeling in order to make such influences explicit so that we, as conceptual modellers, can take the next step. © 2013 Springer-Verlag