Ontology: the science of fundamental principles, the doctrine of identifying categories marking distinctions between: 1) "entities", i.e., existents; 2) the qualitative attributes of entities; and 3) the relationships between 1) and 2). "The subject of ontology is the study of the categories of things that exist or may exist in some domain. The product of such a study, called an ontology, is a catalog of the types of things that are assumed to exist in a domain of interest D from the perspective of a person who uses a language L for the purpose of talking about D. The types in the ontology represent the predicates, word senses, or concept and relation types of the language L when used to discuss topics in the domain D." [KR Ontology John F. Sowa]
[see also: Theory and History of Ontology. A Resource Guide for Philosophers; Raul Corazzon]
In computer science, we find the "Short answer: An ontology is a specification of a conceptualization; is certainly a different sense of the word than its use in philosophy. What is important is what an ontology is for. In that context, an ontology is a specification used for making ontological commitments [that have] properties for knowledge sharing among AI (artificial intelligence) software (e.g., semantics independent of reader and context)." [condensed from What is an Ontology? Tom Gruber]
NOTE: Ontology is a rather modern branch of metaphysics, helped along by the advocates of Ayn Rand's book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. If ontology had existed to the degree then that her book pushed it to now, she might have written the follow up book. It would have been much more in depth.
But reading that book will help you understand, because she begins at the beginning, with sensations; perceptions; existents; entities; identity; units; relationships; measurement; concept formation; differentiation, integration, commensurable characteristics; and before you are finished with Chapter Two she is already explaining how these affect our language in the form of adjectives, pronouns, conjunctions, etc. All those things are necessary to the understanding of ontology. Be sure to read the updated version that says "Expanded Second Edition" because the "expansion" is conversations Rand had with other philosophers who were interested in her ideas, but didn't quite understand them, themselves. |