Formal methods in knowledge engineering

This paper presents a general discussion of the role of formal methods in knowledge engineering. We give an historical account of the development of the field of knowledge engineering towards the use of formal methods. Subsequently, we discuss the pros and cons of formal methods. We do this by summarising the proclaimed advantages, and by arguing against some of the commonly heard objections against formal methods. We briefly summarise the current state of the art and discuss the most important directions that future research in this field should take. This paper presents a general setting for the other contributions in this issue of the journal, which each deal with a specific issue in more detail.