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 -pairs are the formal concepts of the complement context. We further prove that the FCA closure operator and the -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!