Ontology  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
Revision as of 21:54, 17 April 2010
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

← Previous diff
Current revision
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

Line 1: Line 1:
{{Template}} {{Template}}
-In [[philosophy]], '''ontology''' (from the [[Greek language|Greek]]: ''of being'' and ''science'', ''study'', ''theory'') is the study of [[being]] or [[existence]] and forms the basic subject matter of [[metaphysics]]. It seeks to describe or posit the [[category of being|basic categories]] and relationships of being or existence to define [[entity|entities]] and [[type theory|types of entities]] within its framework.+'''Ontology''' is the [[philosophy|philosophical]] study of the nature of ''[[being]], [[Becoming (philosophy)|becoming]], [[existence]]'', or ''[[reality]]'', as well as the basic [[category of being|categories of being]] and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as [[metaphysics]], ontology deals with questions concerning what [[entities]] exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a [[hierarchy]], and subdivided according to similarities and differences. Although ontology as a philosophical realm is [[academia|academic]] in the sense that it is inseparable from each thinker's [[epistemology]], it has practical application in [[information science]] and [[information technology]], where it informs [[Ontology (information science)|ontologies]] with chosen [[taxonomy (general)|taxonomies]].
-Ontology can be said to study conceptions of [[reality]]; and, for the sake of distinction, at least to the extent to which its counterpart, [[epistemology]] can be represented as being a search for answers to the questions "What do you know?" and "How do you know it?", ontology can be represented as a search for an answer to the question "What are the knowable things?".+== See also ==
- +* [[Abhidharma]]
-Some philosophers, notably of the [[Plato]]nic school, contend that all nouns refer to entities. Other philosophers contend that some nouns do not name entities but provide a kind of shorthand way of referring to a collection (of either objects or events). In this latter view, ''[[mind]]'', instead of referring to an entity, refers to a collection of ''mental events'' experienced by a person; ''[[society]]'' refers to a collection of persons with some shared interactions, and ''[[geometry]]'' refers to a collection of a specific kind of intellectual activity. +* [[Engaged theory]]
- +* [[Ontology (information science)]]
-Any ontology must give an account of which words refer to entities, which do not, why, and what categories result. When one applies this process to nouns such as ''[[electron]]s'', ''[[energy]]'', ''[[contract]]'', ''[[happiness]]'', ''[[time]]'', ''[[truth]]'', ''[[causality]]'', and ''[[God]]'', ontology becomes fundamental to many branches of philosophy.+* [[Ontological engineering]]
-==See also==+* [[Applied ontology]]
-* [[Cosmology]]+* [[Living educational theory]]
-* [[Epistemology]]+* [[Foundation ontology]]
 +* [[Geopolitical ontology]]
 +* [[Guerrilla ontology]]
* [[Holism]] * [[Holism]]
-* [[Metaphysics]]+* [[Mereology]]
 +* [[Meta-ontology]]
 +* [[Metamodeling]]
* [[Modal logic]] * [[Modal logic]]
 +* [[Monadology]]
* [[Nihilism]] * [[Nihilism]]
 +* [[Ontological paradox]]
 +* [[Philosophy of mathematics]]
* [[Philosophy of science]] * [[Philosophy of science]]
-* [[Schema]]+* [[Philosophy of space and time]]
 +* [[Physical ontology]]
 +* [[Porphyrian tree]]
 +* [[Quantum ontology]]
* [[Solipsism]] * [[Solipsism]]
-* [[Taxonomy]]+* [[Speculative realism]]
-* [[Theology]]+* [[Structure and agency]]
 +* [[Subject–object problem]]
 +* [[Taxonomy (general)|Taxonomy]]
 +* [[Upper ontology]]
 + 
{{GFDL}} {{GFDL}}

Current revision

Related e

Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Shop


Featured:

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences. Although ontology as a philosophical realm is academic in the sense that it is inseparable from each thinker's epistemology, it has practical application in information science and information technology, where it informs ontologies with chosen taxonomies.

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Ontology" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

Personal tools