English

Possibilistic operators in Formal Concept Analysis as Kan extensions

Category Theory 2026-07-29 v1 Logic in Computer Science

Abstract

In this paper we prove that Dubois--Prade's eight possibilistic operators in Formal Concept Analysis arise canonically from Kan extensions of the underlying boolean profunctor. This provides a conceptual explanation for the result that NΠN\Pi-pairs are the formal concepts of the complement context. We further prove that the FCA closure operator and the NΠN\Pi-pairs are the only symmetric or asymmetric operator compositions that give formal concepts. Finally we use these eight possibilistic operators to construct new closure operators on a formal context via standard categorical arguments.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.26776,
  title  = {Possibilistic operators in Formal Concept Analysis as Kan extensions},
  author = {Torgeir Aambø},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.26776},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages, comments are welcome!