Robert Arp

Arp completed his undergraduate degree in philosophy at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in 1992,{{Cite web |title=Bachelor of Arts diploma |url=https://www.robertarp.com/BA%20CUA%20Diploma.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403204743/https://www.robertarp.com/BA%20CUA%20Diploma.jpg |archive-date=April 3, 2021 |access-date=June 6, 2019 |website=robertarp.com}} his master's degree in philosophy at CUA in 1993,{{Cite web |title=Master of Arts diploma |url=https://www.robertarp.com/MA%20CUA%20Diploma.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403204736/https://www.robertarp.com/MA%20CUA%20Diploma.jpg |archive-date=April 3, 2021 |access-date=June 6, 2019 |website=robertarp.com}} and PhD in philosophy at Saint Louis University (SLU) during the 2004–2005 school year.{{Cite web |title=PhD diploma |url=https://www.robertarp.com/SLU%20PhD%20Diploma.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403204753/https://www.robertarp.com/SLU%20PhD%20Diploma.jpg |archive-date=April 3, 2021 |access-date=June 6, 2019 |website=robertarp.com}}{{Cite web |title=Doctoral dissertations 2004–2005 *. – Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Doctoral+dissertations+2004-2005+*.-a0136770959 |access-date=November 13, 2019 |website=www.thefreelibrary.com}} He was awarded a prestigious Theodore B. Basselin Scholarship while at CUA, and was a teaching fellow, research fellow, and dissertation fellow during his time at SLU.{{Cite web |title=Graduate Scholarships, Fellowships and Assistantships |url=https://www.slu.edu/academics/graduate/graduate-scholarships-fellowships-assistantships.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327212431/http://www.slu.edu/academics/graduate/graduate-scholarships-fellowships-assistantships.php |archive-date=March 27, 2023 |access-date=November 13, 2019 |website=www.slu.edu}} Arp taught as an assistant professor of philosophy at Southwest Minnesota State University (2005–2006){{Cite web |title=RateMyProfessors.com – Find and rate your professor or campus. |url=https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ |access-date=November 13, 2019 |website=www.ratemyprofessors.com}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}} and then as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University for a year with Michael Ruse (2006–2007), as well as at many schools in the St. Louis, Missouri area as an adjunct professor of philosophy (1996–2005), before doing postdoctoral research in ontology through the National Center for Biomedical Ontology with Mark Musen and Barry Smith at the University at Buffalo (2007–2009).{{Cite web |title=Ontology Research Group – OLT Researchers |url=http://org.buffalo.edu/OLT/OLTresearchers.html |access-date=November 13, 2019 |website=org.buffalo.edu}}

Arp's paper in International Philosophical Quarterly titled "Vindicating Kant's Morality" offers a defense of Immanuel Kant's position against those who would claim that Kant's moral position lacks a motivational component, ignores the spiritual dimensions of morality espoused by a virtue-based ethics, overemphasizes the principle of autonomy in neglecting the communal context of morality, and lacks a theological foundation.{{Cite web |last=Robert Arp |title=Vindicating Kant's Morality |url=https://www.pdcnet.org/8525737F005826D7/file/F9F9F69F03AE526F852573F90074B2F5/$FILE/ipq_2007_0047_0001_0005_0022.pdf |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Pdcnet.org}}

With Arthur Caplan, Arp edited Contemporary Debates in Bioethics{{Cite web |date=July 1, 2014 |title=Contemporary Debates in Bioethics – Arthur L. Caplan, Robert Arp |url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1444337149.html |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Wiley.com}} through John Wiley & Sons, containing new papers written by experts in bioethics and applied ethics such as Don Marquis, Tom Beauchamp, Mark Cherry, William J. Winslade, Jane Maienschein, Edwin Black, Richard Arneson, and others.

Concerning biological function, Arp has put forward a middle position between the two viable accounts of function today—namely, the organizational account of function (usually attributed to Robert Cummins) and the modern history account of function (usually attributed to Paul Griffiths and Peter Godfrey-Smith){{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2010 |title=Evolution and two popular proposals for the definition of function |journal=Journal for General Philosophy of Science |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=19–30 |doi=10.1007/s10838-006-9008-3 |s2cid=143984978}}—and his position has been called "reconciliatory" and "pluralist."{{Cite book |last=Perlman |first=M. |title=Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4051-5998-2 |editor-last=Ayala |editor-first=F. |location=Malden, MA |pages=53–71 |chapter=Traits have evolved to function the way they do because of a past advantage |editor-last2=Arp |editor-first2=R.}} His article with Barry Smith titled "Function, role and disposition in basic formal ontology" published in Nature Precedings has been cited more than 140 times, according to Google Scholar.{{Cite web |title=Google Scholar |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=11305771016648524910&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Scholar.google.com}}

Besides his work in functions and teleology, Arp has attempted a definition of life, arguing that the "components and attending processes of an organism must be considered as living, emergent phenomena because of the way in which the components are organized to maintain homeostasis of the organism at the various levels in the organismic hierarchy." He calls this position the homeostatic organization view of biological phenomena.{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2008 |title=Life and the homeostatic organization view of biological phenomena |url=http://www.cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/97/193 |journal=Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy |volume=4 |issue=1–2 |pages=260–285}} With Alexander Rosenberg, Arp has edited Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009),{{Cite web |date=June 1, 2013 |title=Philosophy of Biology: An Anthology – Alex Rosenberg, Robert Arp |url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405183160.html |access-date=May 7, 2017 |publisher=Wiley}} with Francisco J. Ayala, he has edited Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009),{{Cite web |date=November 1, 2010 |title=Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology – Francisco J. Ayala, Robert Arp |url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405159995.html |access-date=May 7, 2017 |publisher=Wiley}} and with George Terzis, he has edited Information and Living Systems: Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives (MIT Press, 2011).{{Cite web |title=The MIT Press |url=http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12586 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629142849/http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12586 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Mitpress.mit.edu}}

Arp has also offered suggestions for the interactions of philosophers and scientists as they go about their work in philosophy of science.{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |last2=J. Watson |year=2008 |title=Checks and balances: the welcomed tension between philosophy and science |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=17–28 |doi=10.1086/529559 |pmid=18481585 |s2cid=45765674}}

In his first book published through MIT Press, Scenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving, Arp adds to Steven Mithen's cognitive fluidity view by arguing that such fluidity would be random and chaotic without mechanisms of selection and integration. Thus, what he calls "scenario visualization"{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=Robert |url=http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11487 |title=Scenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving |publisher=MIT Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-262-01244-7 |location=Cambridge, MA |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629142120/http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11487 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=dead}} is a necessary ingredient in creative problem solving, and likely was one of the first things that emerged in human consciousness. Scenario visualization is defined by Arp as a "conscious ability to segregate and integrate visual images in future scenarios."{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2005 |title=Scenario Visualization: One explanation of creative problem solving |url=http://www.imprint.co.uk/jcs_12_3.html#arp |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=31–60 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123194141/http://imprint.co.uk/jcs_12_3.html#arp |archive-date=November 23, 2010 |access-date=October 15, 2010}}{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2006 |title=The environments of our hominin ancestors, tool usage, and Scenario Visualization. |url=https://www.springer.com/philosophy/epistemology+and+philosophy+of+science/journal/10539 |journal=Biology and Philosophy |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=95–117 |doi=10.1007/s10539-005-0443-z |s2cid=13277841|url-access=subscription }}

While this view has been applauded as "innovative and interesting,"{{Cite encyclopedia |entry=Evolutionary Psychology |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |entry-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/evolutionary-psychology/ |edition=Summer 2014 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |first=Stephen M. |last=Downes |date=2014-05-21 |orig-date={{date|2008-02-08|MDY}}}} a "valuable resource and a stimulating contribution,"{{Cite web |title=Book Reviews – Scenario Visualisation: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving |url=http://www.imprint.co.uk/pdf/16_2-3%20books.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629022214/http://www.imprint.co.uk/pdf/16_2-3%20books.pdf |archive-date=June 29, 2014 |access-date=July 7, 2014}} and even "ambitious,"{{Cite encyclopedia |first=Bence |last=Nanay |entry=Mental Imagery |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |entry-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/mental-imagery/ |edition=Spring 2017 |access-date=May 7, 2017}}{{Cite journal |last=O'Connor |first=M. |last2=D. Fauri |last3=F. Netting |year=2010 |title=How data emerge as information: A review of Scenario Visualization |url=http://ajp.press.illinois.edu/123/3/index.html |url-status=dead |journal=The American Journal of Psychology |volume=123 |issue=3 |pages=371–373 |doi=10.5406/amerjpsyc.123.3.0371 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121211095515/http://ajp.press.illinois.edu/123/3/index.html |archive-date=December 11, 2012|url-access=subscription }}

there are those who critique Arp's position as "saying nothing new"{{Cite journal |last=Kaufman |first=Allison B. |last2=Kaufman |first2=James C. |year=2009 |title=Book review: Scenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving |journal=American Journal of Human Biology |volume=21 |pages=139–140 |doi=10.1002/ajhb.20848 |s2cid=57552368}} and suffering from "a form of selectivity deficit – an inability to judge what is and isn't relevant to his claims."{{Cite journal |last=Picciuto |first=E. |last2=Carruthers |first2=P. |year=2008 |title=Book Review: Creativity Explained? |journal=Evolutionary Psychology |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=147470490800600 |doi=10.1177/147470490800600306 |issn=1474-7049 |doi-access=free}}

Arp's view continues to be referred to as plausible by cognitive scientists{{Cite book |last=Gomila |first=T. |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofcognit0000unse_r7e9/page/1 |title=Directions for an embodied cognitive science: Toward an integrated approach, in Handbook of cognitive science: An embodied approach (P. Calvo & T. Gomila, eds.) |last2=P. Calvo |publisher=Elsevier |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-08-046616-3 |location=Oxford |pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofcognit0000unse_r7e9/page/1 1–26]}}{{Cite journal |last=Weichart |first=A. |year=2009 |title=Sub-symbols and icons. |journal=International Journal on Humanistic Ideology |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=342–347 |doi=10.1007/s12559-009-9027-6 |s2cid=9443900}}{{Cite journal |last=Sugu |first=D. |last2=A. Chatterjee |year=2010 |title=Flashback: Reshuffling emotions. |url=http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=0d4c6111-fb70-48e6-941d-63cc32dd124b&articleId=604e29bd-da60-44ac-9691-e74530c1ae17 |journal=Cognitive Computation |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=109–133}} and others doing work in artificial intelligence,{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Nigel |year=2014 |title=The Multidimensional Spectrum of Imagination: Images, Dreams, Hallucinations, and Active, Imaginative Perception |journal=Humanities |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=132–184 |doi=10.3390/h3020132 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Sloman |first=A. |last2=J. Chappell |year=2005 |title=The altricial-precocial spectrum for robots. |journal=Proceedings IJCAI'05 |pages=1–8 |citeseerx=10.1.1.99.312}}{{Cite journal |last=Arrabales |first=R. |last2=A. Ledezma |last3=A. Sanchis |year=2008 |title=Criteria for consciousness in artificial intelligent agents. |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4a31/7bee76fdc94f49367e6cd1dc8afb379e53c5.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=ALAMAS+ALAg 2008 – Workshop at AAMAS 2008 |pages=1187–1192 |s2cid=53991796 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213090130/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4a31/7bee76fdc94f49367e6cd1dc8afb379e53c5.pdf |archive-date=February 13, 2020}}{{Cite journal |last=Arrabales |first=R. |last2=A. Ledezma |last3=A. Sanchis |year=2010 |title=ConsScale: A pragmatic scale for measuring the level of consciousness in artificial agents. |url=http://www.imprint.co.uk/jcs_17_3-4.html |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |volume=17 |issue=3–4 |pages=131–164 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123204645/http://imprint.co.uk/jcs_17_3-4.html |archive-date=November 23, 2010}} philosophical psychology,{{Cite book |last=Bullot |first=N. |title=Attention, information, and epistemic perception, in Information and living systems: Philosophical and scientific perspectives (G. Terzis & R. Arp, eds.) |publisher=MIT Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-262-20174-2 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=208–248}} and other areas of study.{{Cite book |last=Martelli |first=Antonio |title=Models of scenario building and planning: Facing uncertainty and complexity |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2014 |isbn=9781137293497 |location=London |pages=1–320}}{{Cite web |title=Google Scholar |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=8935000276752464620&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Scholar.google.com}}{{Cite web |title=Google Scholar |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=11092974348252146698&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Scholar.google.com}}{{Cite web |date=December 22, 2009 |title=Google Scholar |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=6683705633730731842&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Scholar.google.com}}

Arp has worked as an ontologist with the CGI Group and BAE Systems on projects for the United States Air Force, National Institutes of Health, and United States Army. He has published papers dealing with philosophy of science and conceptual models and produced numerous technical documents as a technical writer. Arp has also used RDF, RDFS, OWL, and SPARQL to assist in building ontologies for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, making use of ontology-building tools such as TopBraid and Protégé. He was part of the initial steps in developing the world's first weather ontology with other ontologists at Lincoln Laboratory.{{Cite web |title=MIT Lincoln Laboratory: Software / Communication Architecture: NextGen |url=http://www.ll.mit.edu/mission/aviation/softwarecommarch/nextgen.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701203253/http://www.ll.mit.edu/mission/aviation/softwarecommarch/nextgen.html |archive-date=July 1, 2016 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Ll.mit.edu}} He was also part of the genesis of the Infectious Disease Ontology{{Cite web |title=Infectious Disease Ontology |url=http://www.infectiousdiseaseontology.org/Home.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529021341/http://www.infectiousdiseaseontology.org/Home.html |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |access-date=November 29, 2010}} through meetings and discussions in 2007{{Cite web |title=Infectious Disease: A Challenge for Biomedical Informatics |url=http://meetings.cshl.edu/courses/m-ontol07.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305055212/http://meetings.cshl.edu/courses/m-ontol07.html |archive-date=March 5, 2011 |access-date=November 29, 2010 |website=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |department=2007 CSHL Meeting on Infectious Disease Ontology}}{{Cite web |date=May 22, 2015 |title=Infectious Disease Ontology – NCBO Wiki |url=http://www.bioontology.org/wiki/index.php/Infectious_Disease_Ontology |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627094553/https://www.bioontology.org/wiki/index.php/Infectious_Disease_Ontology |archive-date=June 27, 2017 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Bioontology.org}} and 2008.{{Cite web |date=February 8, 2015 |title=Infectious Disease Ontology 2008 – NCBO Wiki |url=http://www.bioontology.org/wiki/index.php/Infectious_Disease_Ontology_2008#IDO_200 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831050245/http://www.bioontology.org/wiki/index.php/Infectious_Disease_Ontology_2008#IDO_200 |archive-date=August 31, 2016 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Bioontology.org}} The Infectious Disease Ontology is one of the ontologies in the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies Foundry, also known as the OBO Foundry.

As a theoretical ontologist, having worked closely with Barry Smith (also a philosopher/ontologist), Arp has contributed to Smith's Basic Formal Ontology in the areas of function, role, and disposition.{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |last2=B. Smith |year=2008 |title=Function, role, and disposition in Basic Formal Ontology |url=http://precedings.nature.com/documents/1941/version/1/html |journal=Nature Precedings |volume=1941 |issue=1 |pages=1–4}} Arp's book with Smith and Andrew Spear published in 2015 through MIT Press, Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology,{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=Robert |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/building-ontologies-basic-formal-ontology |title=Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology |last2=B. Smith |last3=A. Spear |publisher=MIT Press |year=2015 |isbn=9780262527811 |location=Cambridge, MA}} has been cited more than 1300 times on Google Scholar {{as of|lc=y|2024|07|01}}.{{Cite web |title=Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=icGNWj4AAAAJ&pagesize=96&view_op=list_works#d=gs_md_cita-d&u=%2Fcitations%3Fview_op%3Dview_citation%26hl%3Den%26user%3DicGNWj4AAAAJ%26pagesize%3D96%26citation_for_view%3DicGNWj4AAAAJ%3A9djSGow2EaoC%26tzom%3D240 |website=scholar.google.com}} Within the context of Basic Formal Ontology, biology, and bioinformatics, although Arp's definition of function has been criticized as inapplicable to "entities above or below a certain size,"{{Cite journal |last=Lord |first=P. |year=2009 |title=An evolutionary approach to function |journal=Nature Precedings |volume=3228 |issue=1 |pages=1–4 |doi=10.1186/2041-1480-1-S1-S4 |pmc=2903723 |pmid=20626924 |doi-access=free}} the definition not only offers an attempt at a "coherence between the concepts of biological function and technical function,"{{Cite book |last=Borgo |first=S. |chapter=Formalizations of functions within the DOLCE ontology |title=Proceedings of the TMCE 2010 symposium |editor-first1=I. |editor-last1=Horvath |editor-first2=F. |editor-last2=Mandorli |editor-first3=Z. |editor-last3=Rusak |first2=M. |last2=Carrara |first3=P. |last3=Garbacz |first4=P. |last4=Vermaas |publisher=Symposium Publications |year=2010 |isbn=978-90-5155-060-3 |location=Ancona, IT |pages=113–126}} but it also has been used by researchers doing work in biochemical processes,{{Cite journal |last=Dumontier |first=M. |year=2009 |title=Situational modeling: Defining molecular roles in biochemical pathways and reactions |url=http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/Publications/CEUR-WS/Vol-432/owled2008eu_submission_24.pdf |journal=Scientific Commons |volume=432 |pages=1–12}} hypersensitivity conditions,{{Cite journal |last=Hogan |first=W. |year=2010 |title=Towards an ontological theory of substance intolerance and hypersensitivity |journal=Journal of Biomedical Informatics |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=26–34 |doi=10.1016/j.jbi.2010.02.003 |pmc=2888796 |pmid=20152933}} service systems,{{Cite book |last=Sicilia |first=M.-A. |title=Ontology, Conceptualization and Epistemology for Information Systems, Software Engineering and Service Science |last2=M. Mora |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-642-16495-8 |series=Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing |volume=62 |pages=135–147 |chapter=On Using the REA Enterprise Ontology as a Foundation for Service System Representations |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-16496-5_10 |issue=4}} and domain conceptual modeling in general.{{Cite book |last=Da Costa |first=A. |title=A methodology for low-cost image annotation based on conceptual modeling: A biological example, in Third international conference on signal-image technologies and Internet-based systems |last2=E. Leclercq |last3=M. Savonnet |last4=M.-N. Terrasse |publisher=IEEE Computer Society |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7695-3122-9 |pages=18–25}}{{Cite web |title=Google Scholar |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=9459513284098678939&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Scholar.google.com}}

Like Barry Smith, Arp also has sought to defend a common sense realist position concerning the construction of domain ontologies (essentially, scientific realism) whereby a domain ontology should, if possible and appropriate, represent the actual entities out there in the world that fall under the purview of science.{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2009 |title=Realism and antirealism in informatics ontologies |url=http://www.apaonline.org/publications/newsletters/v09n1_Computers_10.aspx |journal=American Philosophical Association: Philosophy and Computers |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=19–23}}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} One argument Arp puts forward is a restatement of the "no-miracles argument" for scientific realism which states that it would be miraculous if scientific theories were not at least approximately true descriptions of the world, since they are so (seemingly) successful at prediction and control. He has argued for this position in the past.{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2005 |title=The pragmatic value of Frege's Platonism for the pragmatist |url=http://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_jsp.html |journal=The Journal of Speculative Philosophy |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=22–41 |doi=10.1353/jsp.2005.0002 |s2cid=170463289|url-access=subscription }}

However, cognizant of the difficulties surrounding a realist position (especially for practical, working ontologists),{{Cite journal |last=Merrill |first=G. |year=2010 |title=Ontological realism: Methodology or misdirection? |url=http://iospress.metapress.com/content/j3324564p5l33863/ |url-status=dead |journal=Applied Ontology |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=79–108 |doi=10.3233/AO-2010-0076 |s2cid=8527360 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130128132609/http://iospress.metapress.com/content/j3324564p5l33863/ |archive-date=January 28, 2013|url-access=subscription }} Arp has argued for a form of as-if philosophical realism, along the lines of Immanuel Kant and Hans Vaihinger whereby the "commitment to the pursuit of abstract objects could become instrumental in guiding the life of philosophy and science in a limited as if manner."{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2005 |title=Frege, as-if platonism, and pragmatism |url=http://www.equinoxjournals.com/JCR/article/viewArticle/1395 |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Critical Realism |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=22–41 |doi=10.1163/1572513053889382 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716074910/http://www.equinoxjournals.com/JCR/article/viewArticle/1395 |archive-date=July 16, 2011|url-access=subscription }}

Just as Kant spoke of the value of the regulative ideas as aiding in, not only the rounding off of our systematic picture of reality, but also prompting us to do further research and investigation, so too, according to Arp thinkers are to act as if there is a reality "out there" (the ding-an-sich or noumenon, as it were) when they construct domain ontologies or engage in any other kind of scientific endeavor. Given the as-if nature of this position, similar to that of Hans Vaihinger, there is always the possibility that there may be practical or pragmatic concerns in building domain ontologies which actually trump the realist pursuit, and Arp is mindful of this possibility.

Also, following other ontologists he has drawn a distinction between philosophical ontology (physical ontology), domain ontology, and upper ontology (also known as top-level or formal) ontology,{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=R. |title=Key terms in logic |publisher=Continuum Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84706-114-0 |editor-last=Williamson |editor-first=J. |location=London |pages=122–123 |chapter=Philosophical ontology, domain ontology, and formal ontology |editor-last2=Russo |editor-first2=F.}}

{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2010 |title=Ontology: Not just for philosophers anymore |url=http://www.practical-philosophy.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=86 |url-status=dead |journal=Practical Philosophy |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=81–103 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922000447/http://www.practical-philosophy.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=86 |archive-date=September 22, 2010 |access-date=October 15, 2010}} and has attempted to articulate principles for best practices in the building of domain ontologies in radiology,{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=R. |title=Radiology education: The scholarship of teaching and learning |last2=Chhem |first2=R. |last3=Romagnoli |first3=C. |last4=Overton |first4=J. |publisher=Springer |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-540-68987-4 |editor-last=Chhem |editor-first=R. |location=London |pages=87–104 |chapter=Radiological and biomedical knowledge integration: The ontological way |editor-last2=Hibbert |editor-first2=K. |editor-last3=Van Deven |editor-first3=T.}} cell signaling,{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |last2=B. Smith |year=2008 |title=Ontologies of cellular networks |journal=Science Signaling |volume=1 |issue=50 |pages=mr2 |doi=10.1126/scisignal.150mr2 |pmc=7141777 |pmid=19091693}} bioethics,{{Cite journal |last=Koepsell |first=D. |author-link=David Koepsell |last2=R. Arp |last3=J. Fostel |last4=B. Smith |year=2009 |title=Creating a controlled vocabulary for the ethics of human research: Towards a biomedical ethics ontology |url=http://www.csueastbay.edu/JERHRE/ |url-status=dead |journal=The Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=43–58 |doi=10.1525/jer.2009.4.1.43 |pmc=2725426 |pmid=19374479 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929193439/http://www.csueastbay.edu/jerhre/ |archive-date=September 29, 2017 |access-date=October 15, 2010}} and finance.{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=R. |title=Progress in Economics Research |publisher=Nova Publishers |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-61122-437-5 |editor-last=Tavidze |editor-first=A. |volume=16 |location=New York |pages=115–129 |chapter=Ontologies just may save your savings accounts}}

Arp has added to the discussion concerning the issue of classifying mystical union with the One in the Neoplatonism of Plotinus, a topic in mysticism with a crossover in religious experience and spirituality more generally. In contradistinction to the theistic union view (where the soul retains its identity in union with the One) on one hand,{{Cite journal |last=Rist |first=John |year=1967 |title=Plotinus: The Road to Reality |journal=Dialogue |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=499–502 |doi=10.1017/S0012217300031358 |s2cid=170642444}} and the monistic identity view (where the soul loses its identity in union with the One) on the other,{{Cite book |last=Meier |first=P.A. |title=Plotinus on the Good or the One (Enneads VI, 9): An Analytical Commentary |publisher=J.C. Gieben |year=1992 |isbn=978-9050630825 |location=Amsterdam}} Arp has argued in a much-cited paper titled "Plotinus, Mysticism, and Mediation" in the prestigious journal Religious Studies for what he calls a "mediated union" position in the doctrines of Plotinus where the noetic part of the soul is not fully transcended in union with the One.{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2004 |title=Plotinus, Mysticism, and Mediation |journal=Religious Studies |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=145–163 |doi=10.1017/S0034412504006894 |s2cid=170926244}}

Arp also has published on mystics such as Lydwina of Schiedam, Margaret of Castello, Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, Saint Rita of Cascia, and others who claim that God's goodness and love can be experienced through, or in the midst of, pain and suffering. Drawing on the work of Simone Weil and Diogenes Allen, he offers a unique theodicy as a response to the problem of evil in his paper titled "Suffering as Theodicy" from the journal Cahiers Simone Weil.{{Cite journal |last=Arp |first=R. |year=2000 |title=Suffering as Theodicy |url=http://www.simoneweil-association.com/les-cahiers-simone-weil/cahiers-simone-weil-2000-tome-xxiii-numero-4-decembre/ |journal=Cahiers Simone Weil |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=413–433}}

Borrowing the concept of solidarity as used by the famous environmental ethicist Robin Attfield in his view known as biocentric consequentialism, Arp has sought to establish a Ubiquitous Ethical Principle of Solidarity. Deriving its modern usage from the French solidarité meaning "communion of interests and responsibilities" or "mutual responsibility," the concept of solidarity was championed by Émile Durkheim in his De la division du travail social: étude sur l'organisation des sociétés supérieures (The Division of Labor in Society, 1893). There, Durkheim envisions solidarité as a kind of human fraternity dependent upon the existence of personal bonds, which are needed for the realization of common goals or ideals within groups. Unlike justice, which tends to focus on rules and principles without specific references to personal bonds, solidarity requires an acknowledgement of subjective ties; it involves a degree of sentiment de camaraderie, or fellow feeling, which is shared by subjects within or between groups. Durkheim was part of numerous Judeo-Christian ethical and political systems that responded to the Industrial Revolution at the close of the 19th century. Arp tries to extend Attfield's notion of solidarity and show how, in addition to the Judeo-Christian tradition, solidarity as an ethical principle may be found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Daoism, Islam, as well as in certain traditional African religions, and Native American religions and among the religions of Indigenous Australians. It is through the ubiquitousness of solidarity, then, that issues having to do with local, national, and global forms of environmental justice (for example, poverty, human rights deprivation, environmental racism) may be confronted. Religious beliefs are part of the very fabric of human existence, so if a religious-based ethical sentiment can be harnessed—as one finds in solidarity—and used as a motivator for confronting environmental injustice, then it is more likely to be enduring. So claims Arp.{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=R. |title=Part 1 Are There Universal Ethical Principles That Should Govern the Conduct of Medicine and Research Worldwide?, in Contemporary Debates in Bioethics (A.L. Caplan & R. Arp, eds.) |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2013 |isbn=9781444337143 |location=Malden, MA |pages=13–17}}{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=R. |title=If the Devil Did Not Exist, It May Be Necessary to Invent Him in Certain Contexts, in Philosophical Approaches to the Devil (B.W. McCraw & R. Arp, eds.) |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1138933040 |location=New York, NY |pages=180–200}}

Arp has chapters in more than 40 books in the genre known colloquially as Philosophy and Popular Culture, including Metallica and Philosophy, Family Guy and Philosophy, Lost and Philosophy, 24 and Philosophy, The Office and Philosophy, Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy, Watchmen and Philosophy, Final Fantasy and Philosophy, Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy, True Blood and Philosophy, 30 Rock and Philosophy, and others. He has worked numerous times with William Irwin, General Editor of The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series{{Cite web |title=The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series |url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-324354.html |access-date=May 7, 2017 |publisher=Wiley}} through Wiley-Blackwell (publisher). In 2006 Arp edited the flagship book in that series, South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today, which has been translated into Italian,{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2010 |title=South Park e la filosofia, I Libri di Isbn/Guidemoizzi, Trama libro | Libreria Universitaria |url=http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/south-park-filosofia-isbn-edizioni/libro/9788876381300 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Libreriauniversitaria.it}} Turkish, and Portuguese.{{Cite web |title=Robert Arp (a cura di) – South Park e la filosofia |url=http://isbnedizioni.it/south-park/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722035740/http://isbnedizioni.it/south-park/ |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |access-date=November 8, 2010}}

He also co-edited Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul with Mark White, soon to be translated into the German language. Arp and White were interviewed in 2008 by The Boston Globe{{Cite news |last=Bebergal |first=Peter |date=July 13, 2008 |title=A talk with Robert Arp and Mark D. White |url=https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/07/13/a_talk_with_robert_arp_and_mark_d_white// |work=The Boston Globe}} and, when asked by The Globe, "Do some scholars see this kind of thing (i.e., Philosophy and Popular Culture books) as silly?" part of Arp's response was: "At root we are trying to bring philosophy to people and bring people to philosophy." Arp and White also contributed an article to The Globe called "Should Batman Kill the Joker?" in 2008.{{Cite news |last=White |first=Mark D. |last2=Arp |first2=Robert |date=July 25, 2008 |title=Should Batman kill the Joker? |url=https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/07/25/should_batman_kill_the_joker/ |work=The Boston Globe}} This article is reprinted in the eighth edition of The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition (in Chapter 12: Argument),{{Cite web |date=September 11, 2001 |title=Contents | The Norton Sampler | W. W. Norton & Company |url=http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail-contents.aspx?ID=4294971226 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Books.wwnorton.com}} published by W. W. Norton & Company.

Arp has also worked with Mark Conard and The Philosophy of Popular Culture series{{Cite web |title=The University Press of Kentucky – About the Series |url=http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/series_detail.php?seriesID=PPCS |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302073329/http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/series_detail.php?seriesID=PPCS |archive-date=March 2, 2017 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Kentuckypress.com}} through The University Press of Kentucky, as well as with David Ramsay Steele and the Popular Culture and Philosophy series{{Cite web |title=Popular Culture and Philosophy |url=http://www.opencourtbooks.com/categories/pcp.htm |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Opencourtbooks.com}} through Open Court Publishing Company, which has produced titles such as The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer, Star Wars and Philosophy, Star Trek and Philosophy, The Beatles and Philosophy, James Bond and Philosophy, and many others. One of Arp's latest projects is as editor of Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink, Therefore I Am with Fritz Allhoff (General Editor of the Philosophy for Everyone series){{Cite web |title=Philosophy for Everyone Series |url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-405212.html |access-date=May 7, 2017 |publisher=Wiley}} and Wiley-Blackwell Publishers.

Arp was Plenary Speaker for Pop Culture and Philosophy Conferences at Eastern Washington University (2010) and Georgia Southern University (2013).{{Cite web |title=EASTERN WASHINGTON STUDENT PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE : Theme: "Pop Culture and Philosophy" |url=http://www.nic.edu/modules/images/websites/127/file/EWUStuConf.pdf |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Nic.edu}}{{Cite web |date=January 24, 2013 |title=Department accepting undergraduate conference submissions through March 1 | College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences | Georgia Southern University |url=http://class.georgiasouthern.edu/blog/2013/01/24/department-accepting-undergraduate-conference-submissions-through-march-1/ |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Class.georgiasouthern.edu}}

Arp's edited book, 1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think, was published through Simon & Schuster in 2013 and has sold thousands of copies worldwide in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Czechoslovakian.{{Cite web |title=1001 myšlenek: část Psychologie – Robert Arp | Audiokniha MP3 na |url=https://www.alza.cz/media/1001-myslenek-cast-psychologie-d4527865.htm |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Alza.cz}}{{Cite book |last=Arp |first=Robert |url=http://books.simonandschuster.com/1001-Ideas-That-Changed-the-Way-We-Think/Robert-Arp/9781476705729 |title=1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think | Book by Robert Arp | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster |date=October 29, 2013 |publisher=Books.simonandschuster.com |isbn=9781476705729 |access-date=May 7, 2017}} Concerning reviews of the book, The Boston Globe stated, "Editor Robert Arp has produced a reference guide that's fun to browse," while Library Journal claims the book is "highly attractive... recommended" and Booklist notes that it is "entertaining and informative." Of the nearly 50 ratings and 10 reviews of the book on Goodreads, 1001 Ideas has received a rating of 4.35 out of 5.0.{{Cite web |title=1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think by Robert Arp – Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17571713-1001-ideas-that-changed-the-way-we-think |access-date=May 7, 2017 |website=Goodreads.com}}

In September 2015, Arp was interviewed by Ed Berliner on his show, The Hard Line with Ed Berliner, through Newsmax TV about South Park (season 19).{{Cite web |date=September 16, 2015 |title=The Hard Line | Robert Arp, PhD discusses the premiere of South Park's 19th season |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t855iQQ2S7s |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/t855iQQ2S7s |archive-date=2021-12-21 |access-date=May 7, 2017 |publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

On January 22, 2019, Arp appeared with other philosophers on the podcast devoted to philosophy and popular culture titled, I Think, Therefore, I Fan.{{Cite web |date=January 22, 2019 |title=It's Not Turtles All The Way Down! |url=https://ithinkthereforeifan.com/2019/01/22/its-not-turtles-all-the-way-down/ |access-date=January 23, 2019 |publisher=I Think, Therefore I Fan}}

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• {{official|http://www.robertarp.com/ }}
• [http://org.buffalo.edu/OLT/OLTresearchers.html Ontology Research Group Website]

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