entitiesindividuals

Entitiesindividuals is a coined term used to discuss the relationship between general things in a domain (entities or classes) and their concrete members (individuals or instances). It is not a standard, widely adopted label in any single field, but it serves to highlight how general categories and specific occurrences relate within information systems, ontologies, and data models.

In knowledge representation, an entity can be any identifiable thing within a domain, while an individual is a particular member of a class or category. Many ontologies treat entities and individuals within a single framework, but commonly individuals are instances of one or more classes. For example, in a personal data model, Person is a class (an entity type), and "Marie Curie" is an individual instance of that class, described by properties such as birth date or nationality.

Applications of the entitiesindividuals concept appear across knowledge graphs, semantic web, and database design. In graphs, nodes may represent classes and instances, with edges indicating class membership and relationships between individuals. In relational databases, a table defines a class of records, while each row is an individual entry with attributes. Entity resolution or record linkage programs focus on identifying when different data sources refer to the same individual, reducing duplicates and improving data quality.

Caveats exist because terminology varies by discipline. Some frameworks treat entities as abstract universals and individuals as concrete particulars, while others use more fluid notions. Clear domain definitions are essential to avoid ambiguity when working with entities and individuals.