Requirements for Logical Modules

Modularization for ontologies and thus for logical theories is receiving increasing interest, but a clear presentation of requirements for solutions is still missing. This paper presents a collection of such requirements. Some of these are derived as desiderata in the context of applying modularization to the axiomatization of a top-level ontology, whereas others are determined by analyzing the notion of module in software engineering. Given these requirements, their relationship to current proposals for modularizing ontologies is briefly discussed, with a focus on our application. In a wider context, the paper represents an initial step towards a notion of module for logical languages, which is applicable to the creation and maintenance of large axiomatizations.