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 makes something a tool?
Bataille write about tools in his Theory of Religion. For example,
As one can see, I have placed tool and the manufactured object on the same plane, the reason being that the tool is first of all a ...
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How do people personally understand what “reality” is, beyond formal definitions? [closed]
I am aware that reality is a central and highly technical concept in philosophy, with many formal definitions across different traditions (realism, idealism, Kantian philosophy, etc.).
However, I am ...
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What are some popular philosophical perspectives to describe the conceptualization of reality?
Philosophers and schools of thought approach reality in very different ways. (For example, realism, idealism, empiricism, or perspectives influenced by science and perception.)
How do major ...
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When physics studies what fundamentally exists, why does it refuse to say what exists?
Physics studies elementary particles, quantum fields, and spacetime - the fundamental constituents of reality. This is exactly where physics meets ontology. We're no longer describing macroscopic ...
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What truly is power? [closed]
We commonly speak of many kinds of "power": bodily strength, intellect/knowledge, creativity, patience, perseverance, wealth, political influence, military force, and so on. These are ...
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Is a screenshot of a picture the same picture?
Suppose one takes a screenshot of a digital picture (for example, an image displayed on a screen). Is the screenshot the same picture as the original, or is it a distinct picture that merely ...
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What are the minimal ontological conditions that make existence possible, prior to any knowledge, experience, or interpretation?
Much of modern philosophy begins with conditions of knowledge, experience, language, or subjectivity. This question deliberately steps back from epistemology and asks something more basic:
Before any ...
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Is there an established philosophical term for a stance that explicitly refuses final ontological descriptions?
I am trying to precisely classify (not defend or promote) a philosophical stance, and I am likely not the first to arrive at it. I am interested in whether this position already exists under an ...
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What is causation in Physics? [duplicate]
Suppose a theoretical physicist wants to construct a theory to explain some newly discovered phenomenon. The new theory is expected to follow certain rules or fundamental principles. There are four ...
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Metaphysical grounding: Why is “necessarily, if pious then 2+3=5” relevant in the grounding vs. modality debate?
In the SEP entry on Metaphysical Grounding, Lowe argues that grounding cannot be reduced to purely modal notions, since modality is “too coarse-grained.” He illustrates this with the following claim:
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Are there things, and if so, what are they?
It seems inevitable that human cognizance carves up experience into separated entities. And yet, the notion of there being “some thing” is very slippery.
It seems natural to be able to focus one’s ...
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What is the perspective of major philosophers on classifying loss from a tragic standpoint?
Over the past three days I was engaged in a long discussion with my friends We began with the question: What are the classifications of human tragedies?
After hours of debate on the first day we ...
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What is the relationship between the field of ontology and the post-structuralism movement?
I should preface by saying that I am a beginner to all of these theories and concepts. Ontology, as the field or study of being (as far as I understand it), greatly fascinates me - as it has a certain ...
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Why is set theory considered Platonist, while Leśniewski’s mereology is not?
Leśniewski explicitly rejected set theory in favor of mereology on nominalist grounds. Could someone explain why classical set theory is usually regarded as Platonist (or “Platonizing”), and what ...
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Emergentism as first principle
The first principles approach is the same as deducing all knowledge claims from axioms which cannot be derived from more fundamental axioms. This is the same as what we have called axiomatic inquiry, ...
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