Dispositions and causal laws as the ontological foundation of transition rules in simulation models

Discrete event simulation models define a state transition system, using some form of transition rules, or transition functions. In this paper we propose an ontological account of transition rules based on dispositions and causal laws. This account extends our previous presentation of DESO, a foundational ontology of objects and events for discrete event simulation modeling. We also show how the ontological concepts of dispositions and causal laws provide a semantics for the concept of transition rules in conceptual simulation modeling languages corresponding to transition functions in simulation languages.