Name: What is ontology? Introduction to the word and the concept
Uploaded: 2014-07-25T06:38:31.000Z
Duration: 3 min 58 s
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What is Ontology?  Let me give you a general introduction to the word and the concept.

Reflexive pronouns

The word itself comes from two Greek words namely: "Onto," which means existence or being

real, and "Logia" which means science, or study.

The word Ontology is used both in a philosophical context and a non-philosophical context.

Let's start with the former.  Ontology in a philosophical context, well it's basically the study of

what exists, what is being real, what is real.

And examples of Philosophical Ontology questions could be - What are the fundamental parts of

the world and how are they related to each other?  Are physical parts more real than immaterial

concepts; for example, are physical objects such as shoes more real than the concept of walking?

And in terms of what exists, what is the relationship between shoes and walking?

And why is Ontology important in philosophy?  Well, philosophers use this concept of Ontology

to discuss questions, to build theories and models, and to consequently better understand the

And over time there has been two major branches:

Ontological Materialism and Ontological Idealism.

Materialism from a philosophical perspective is the belief that material things are just particles,

chemical processes, and energy are more real than, for example, the human mind.  So, the overall

belief within Ontological Materialism is that reality of exists regardless of a human observer.

In Ontological Idealism, on the other hand, the belief is that immaterial phenomenon, such as the

human mind and the consciousness are more real than the material things.  And the belief here is

that the reality is constructed in the mind of the observer.

Moving on, I told you this is just a general introduction to the concept.

In a non- philosophical context, Ontology is used in a different, more narrow meaning.  Here

Ontology is the description of what exists specifically within a determined field.

For example, every part that exists within a specific information system and this includes the

relationship and hierarchy between these parts.

And, unlike the philosophers, these researchers are not primarily interested in discussing if these

things are the true essence or core of the system.  And, nor are they discussing if the parts within

the system are more real, compared to the processes that take place within the system.  Rather,

they are focused on naming parts and processes and

grouping similar ones together within categories.

So, here are some more examples of the use of Ontology outside philosophy.  It's also used in

Social Ontology; here the idea is to describe society and the difference parts and processes

within society.  And the purpose of Social Ontology then could be to simply understand and

describe the underlying structures that affect individuals and groups.