
6 Foundations of Semantic Web Technologies
idea of externalizing and standardizing human reasoning showed up sporadi-
cally in the subsequent centuries. In his work “Ars generalis ultima,” Ramon
Llull (1232–1315) designed a system of logic and even semi-mechanical devices
in order to create new knowledge out of a set of a priori facts. These mech-
anisms were meant to support interreligious discourse by deriving Christian
doctrines from initial statements the monotheistic religions agreed upon. In
the same line of thought, Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) formulated the desire
to resolve conflicts in scientific or philosophical discourse by just calculating ...