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Philosophy vocabulary · Metaphysics

Ontology

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ɒnˈtɒlədʒi/nounCommon term

In philosophy, ontology means: The part of metaphysics that studies what exists and what basic kinds of things there are, such as objects, properties, events or numbers.

In Turkish: ontoloji, varlık felsefesi, varlıkbilim

How it is used

Also countable: a theory's ontology is the list of things it says exist (a sparse ontology). The adjective ontological appears in phrases like ontological commitment and the ontological argument for God's existence.

Example sentences

  1. Quine argued that our ontology should include only what our best scientific theories require.

  2. Does your ontology include holes and shadows, or only material objects?

Common collocations

  • social ontology
  • ontological commitment
  • the ontological argument
  • sparse ontology
  • metaphysicsThe branch of philosophy that studies the basic nature of reality: what exists, what things are, and ideas such as time, cause, identity and possibility.
  • existenceThe fact or state of being real or being there at all, as opposed to not being; in existentialism, also the concrete life of a human being.
  • substanceIn metaphysics, something that exists in its own right and has properties, rather than being a property of something else.
  • Occam's razorThe principle that we should not assume more entities or causes than we need: among competing explanations, prefer the simplest one that works.

More terms: Metaphysics

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