Questions tagged [ontology]
Ontology is the study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.
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What can a person not categorize in the process of his knowledge acquisition?
When a subject learns about the world and gets experience as a result, he builds his own mental representations - thereby essentially differentiating the world (that is, dividing it into abstract ...
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How does one differentiate epistemological and ontological claims?
I'm taking an introductory philosophy course and I find it fascinating. I can't really figure out an assignment though because I'm a bit foggy on what the difference between ontological and ...
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Why do some philosphers including Russell paraphrase this sentence?
To say “Pegasus doesn’t exist” is to say “it is not the case that there is exactly one
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which is a flying horse of Greek mythology”.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nonexistent-objects/
“Pegasus ...
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What does "everything" mean?
For starter, I'm not a student in philosophy, but mathematics. I only have a general knowledge in logic and set theory, all in the context of mathematics. My question comes from a doubt I got while ...
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Circularity in definition of Real
I'm having a hard time understanding the adjective 'real'.
In some sense, we get that x is real iff x is in reality. So to say that y is a real boy, is to say that y is a boy, and y is in the ...
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What does mean “realitas objectiva” in scholastic ontology?
Descartes uses the term in his third meditation (Med. III) to demonstrate the existence of God, see a previous question.
The term “realitas objectiva” is a technical term from scholastic ontology.
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Is there a philosophical assessment of the terms "virtual" and "imaginary"?
In casual terms, at least from explanations I can find,
imaginary is something which "does not exist" in reality: "an imaginary world"
virtual is something which "exists ...
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Chaos vs statistical mechanics vs complexity science
could someone shed some light on difference between chaos and complexity ?
What is the difference both ontological and epistemological between complexity science and statistical mechanics ?
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Can we paint or draw imaginary or nonexistent objects? [closed]
You know, imagainary objects are concepts and nonexistent objects don't have properties. I can't imagine drawing concepts (=imaginary objects) or nonexistent objects which we can't even see.
Can we ...
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What is the definition of real?
What is the definition of the word "real"? For example, we can all agree that Harry Potter and unicorns are not real, while Mount Everest and Mars are real. Some people even say ...
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According to modal realism, how many possible worlds are there?
Modal realism tells us there is an infinity of possible worlds, but how many are there exactly? Is it countable infinity ℵ₀, uncountable infinity 𝖈, or some other, bigger uncountable infinity?
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How is asymmetry of metaphor an important part of object-oriented ontology?
I am reading Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything. I'm finding it interesting and a lot of the ideas resonate, although I'm quite sure I don't completely understand it.
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Is science possible in a world where a god acts?
Consider a world equipped with a god; and this god from time to time at his convenience and no other, acts in the world; and then too, that those beings who live in the world see these acts as ...
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What is the difference between the “thing in itself” and noumena?
“Things in themselves” and noumena are similar in Kantian metaphysics (Critique of Pure Reason, mostly) and interchangeable much of the time. The phenomena/noumena divide is integral to Kantian ...
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In what shape do opposites exist?
A common notion is that the opposite of “cold” is “warm” and that the opposite of “slow” is “fast”.
Would it be equally correct to say that the opposite of “cold” is “fast”?
How come that most people ...
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Do philosophers analyze the term 'thing'?
'Thing' seems like a special word since it can be used to refer to almost anything. Is it an undefined term, or have philosophers tried to define it? If they haven't analyzed it, is there a similar ...
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Is there a philosophical concept that describes the notion that all permutations of human experience must exist simultaneously?
It's the idea that, basically, if we each have our own paths to walk, so to speak, and if they are all unique to each individual person, then that must mean every possible permutation of a "life&...
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Is Bhaskar's argument, that epistemology and ontology are separate, correct?
Roy Bhaskar [1] is credited with developing a version of Critical Realism [2] with applications in the social sciences.
What is the meaning of Roy Bhaskar's notion of epistemic fallacy (as distinct ...
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Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
Suppose there are two persons A and B.
A attests to having witnessed some extraordinary event, e.g. A claims to have had an extraordinary religious experience with an other-worldly entity. Let's say ...
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Is there a theory that if something doesn't exist, it isn't...?
In a casual sense, if ,for example, wind didn't exist, wind didn't blow my hair, wind didn't swing anything, wind didn't come into any place, etc.
Likewise, I think if something doesn't exist, it ...
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Are all things the physical form/properties they have?
Trying to answer the question: "What are the things?"
I noticed that different things have different (physical) forms and that equal things have equal forms.
But what if it was a wrong ...
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Why is there something instead of nothing?
A simple but fundamental question.
The "something" means the whole Universe (known and unknown), it could be represented as the reality version of the set of all sets, which is itself debated. It ...
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Numbers and Time
This is my first post on philosophy stack exchange, so I apologize in advance if this question is not well-defined or if it happens to be a duplicate. If so, feel free to link the corresponding post(s)...
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What is an object's properties?
What can we consider an object's properties, for example, when can we consider an object's properties as 'changing'? For example, if I move an object from my desk to my table, has it changed? If I ...
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What is the difference between a " particular" and an " individual being "? (Ontology)
The standard ontological classification distinguishes:
(1) particulars and universals
(2) concrete and abstract entities.
I'm wondering what place to attribute to " individuals" in this ...
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Are there any publications that attempt to give a formal ontological definition of the Christian Trinity?
Are there any publications in the field of Philosophy of Religion that have attempted to provide a formal ontological definition of the Christian God as portrayed by the doctrine of the Trinity?
Take ...
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What's the difference between noneism and abstractionism?
I know what noneists and abstractionists say the difference is, I just don't grasp the difference. Noneism and abstractionism are two approaches to objects like numbers, fictional character, ...
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How will you describe ontology of God?
I am trying to understand ontology. Suppose God exists then how will you describe the ontology of God?
(Several texts have been written in praise of God ,Allah etc … Those books gives some credence to ...
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Does anyone consider Being a primitive, unanalyzable, term?
Does anyone say that Being is a primitive, unanalyzable, term?
That probably would make Being and Time the greatest work of nonsense of all time. I certainly feel able to imagine that Being is ...
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Can any part of existence be considered as information?
Can any part of existence be considered as information? I was thinking about it and anything that exist literally can be thought as information, but is there an exception to this rule? Is nothingness ...
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Can only one object exist?
Suppose so, then: What exactly can distinguish it from not existing, if the object itself is all there is?
Any object trivially maps to itself via identity, so in order to deviate from the trivial ...
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Can location be assigned to an entity, given a lack of length, depth, or width?
If one is to postulate an entity that has a complete or absolute lack of height, depth, and width, can such an entity be located anywhere? Or does attribution of location to an entity entail length, ...
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Physical vs abstract collections
In mathematics we deal with 'sets' they are abstract as the objects in them are abstract, they have no tempo-spatial location. How about standard 'collections' we would encounter in real life, if I ...
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Which mathematical operations leave the ontology invariant? [closed]
So usually one maps a math equation to an ontology in physics. Imagine me modelling a ball rolling up an inclined plane at an arbitrary angle. Now, the moment I make the inclined angle 90 degrees to ...
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How to understand Prime matter?
In the Aristotle-Aquinas tradition prime matter is the thing that underlies all other things in the world. It is described as completely indeterminate-pure potentiality, it was not created and cannot ...
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How can universal truths lead to particular truths?
Disclaimer: I have not read philosophy outside of limited Greek works
So, Plato theorized that there was a world of "universals" and "particulars", the world of general principles (...
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Can something come out of nothing or not? Why?
In our current state of affairs it is safe and reasonable to assume something exists - be it a universe, pure conciousness, illusion or other designations. If some readers nevertheless claim something ...
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What is 'an Ontological Evil'?
In various discussions touching upon topics between geopolitics, ethics, and general philosophy, I have seen the term used, in phrases such as 'please do not believe that members of [faction that both ...
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Is everything identical to itself, or merely every existing thing?
One of the properties of identity is that everything is identical to itself. But, does "everything" mean literally everything, or merely every thing that exists? For example, I don't think 1/...
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Can we evaluate life, existence and/or consciousness itself according to criteria that exist within it?
The idea of a criteria, of evaluation, of meaning, of assigning characteristics, of judging things as positive or negative or neutral, only exists as a subset of existence as far as I can tell. In ...
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Regarding objects being concrete and properties being abstract
For those who believe that objects are concrete things and properties are abstract things, what do you make of sensory properties?
Our brains perceive sensory qualities first and build (concepts of) &...
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Are ontologically reductive theories really that powerful?
There are numerous examples of ontological reduction, or elimination in the case of moral anti realism, the denial of the existence of a philosophical God (Russell's brute fact) and physicalism/...
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How many Platonic ideals are there?
Suppose you have an unripe banana that is yellow with a greenish tint. We could say that this banana partially embodies the platonic ideal of yellowness. We could also say that to a lesser degree it ...
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Does existence consist of two categories?
The two categories I wish to describe is:
Eternal existence being uncaused and having always been
Short term existences such as human consciousness or other types which are destructible from their ...
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Did Spinoza say "to name it is to limit it"?
I have seen this quote attributed second-hand and I wonder if anyone can document its source. Greatly appreciated.
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Classical logic with a modified law of identity and its implications
Let's take the Law of Identity and change it to the Law of Identity with Overlapping Categories:
Would classical logic with the modified Law of Identity be completely different than classical logic. ...
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Are numbers noumena?
According to OED, noumenon is
An object knowable only by the mind or intellect, not by the senses
But I'm a little confused at considering about numbers, they seem to be objects knowable only by ...
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If nothing is preventing something from existing, must it exist?
The question in the title; if there is no existent precluding factor (whatsoever) for the existence of some x, must such a x exist?
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Where is it that I go when I dream? Part 2
The body is often referred to by some as a "Temple". If it is a Temple, then to be awake is like standing outside of same during the day and to have a dream is like entering the foyer of it ...
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What precedents are there for the triple-ism of Roger Penrose?
In his The Road to Reality, Roger Penrose espouses three distinct realities - the physical, mental and mathematical.
The physical and mental are basically good old dualism, although he is an atheist ...
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