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Branches

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There are different and sometimes overlapping ways to divide ontology into branches. Pure ontology focuses on the most abstract topics associated with the concept and nature of being. It is not restricted to a specific domain of entities and studies existence and the structure of reality as a whole.[1] Pure ontology contrasts with applied ontology, also called domain ontology. Applied ontology examines the application of ontological theories and principles to specific disciplines and domains, often in the field of science.[2] It considers ontological problems in regard to specific entities such as matter, mind, numbers, God, and cultural artifacts.[3]

Social ontology, a major subfield of applied ontology, studies social kinds, like money, gender, society, and language. It aims to determine the nature and essential features of these concepts while also examining their mode of existence.[4] According to a common view, social kinds are useful constructions to describe the complexities of social life. This means that they are not pure fictions but, at the same time, lack the objective or mind-independent reality of natural phenomena like elementary particles, lions, and stars.[5] In the fields of computer science, information science, and knowledge representation, applied ontology is interested in the development of formal frameworks to encode and store information about a limited domain of entities in a structured way.[6] A related application in genetics is Gene Ontology, which is a comprehensive framework for the standardized representation of gene-related information across species and databases.[7]

Formal ontology is the study of objects in general while focusing on their abstract structures and features. It divides objects into different categories based on the forms they exemplify. Formal ontologists often rely on the tools of formal logic to express their findings in an abstract and general manner.[8][a] Formal ontology contrasts with material ontology, which distinguishes between different areas of objects and examines the features characteristic of a specific area.[10] Examples are ideal spatial beings in the area of geometry and living beings in the area of biology.[11]

Descriptive ontology aims to articulate the conceptual scheme underlying how people ordinarily think about the world. Prescriptive ontology departs from common conceptions of the structure of reality and seeks to formulate a new and better conceptualization.[12]

Another contrast is between analytic and speculative ontology. Analytic ontology examines the types and categories of being to determine what kinds of things could exist and what features they would have. Speculative ontology aims to determine which entities actually exist, for example, whether there are numbers or whether time is an illusion.[13]

Metaontology studies the underlying concepts, assumptions, and methods of ontology. Unlike other forms of ontology, it does not ask "what exists" but "what does it mean for something to exist" and "how can people determine what exists".[14] It is closely related to fundamental ontology, an approach developed by philosopher Martin Heidegger that seeks to uncover the meaning of being.[15]

Notes

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  1. ^ The idea of formal ontology was first formulated by phenomenologist Edmund Husserl, who studied objects in general by relying on fundamental categories such as unity, plurality, state of affairs, part, and whole. He examined the relations between these categories and how they depend on one another.[9]

References

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  1. ^
  2. ^
  3. ^ Jacquette 2014, pp. xii–xiii
  4. ^
  5. ^
    • Ney 2014, pp. 259–263
    • Rea 2021, pp. 185–186
  6. ^
  7. ^
  8. ^
  9. ^
  10. ^
  11. ^ Hakkarainen & Keinänen 2023, p. 9
  12. ^
  13. ^
  14. ^
  15. ^

Sources

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  • Schalow, Frank (2019). Historical Dictionary of Heidegger's Philosophy. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-2436-9.
  • Wheeler, Michael (2020). "Martin Heidegger". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  • Lehrer, Keith (1993). "Preface". In Lehrer, Keith (ed.). Haecceity: An Ontological Essay. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-0-7923-2438-6.
  • Coggins, Geraldine (2010). Could there have been Nothing?: Against Metaphysical Nihilism. Springer. ISBN 978-0-230-29524-7.
  • Hakkarainen, Jani; Keinänen, Markku (2023). Formal Ontology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-08033-0.
  • Poli, Roberto; Simons, Peter (1996). "Foreword". In Poli, Roberto; Simons, Peter (eds.). Formal Ontology. ISBN 978-0-7923-4104-8.
  • Albertazzi, Liliana (1996). "Formal and Material Ontology". In Poli, Roberto; Simons, Peter (eds.). Formal Ontology. Springer Netherlands. ISBN 978-94-015-8733-4.
  • Sadegh-Zadeh, Kazem (2011). "Fuzzy Formal Ontology". In Seising, Rudolf; González, Veronica Sanz (eds.). Soft Computing in Humanities and Social Sciences. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-24672-2.
  • Tuomela, Raimo; Hakli, Raul; Mäkelä, Pekka (2020). "Social Ontology in the Making: An Introduction". Social Ontology in the Making. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-061767-2.
  • Epstein, Brian (2024). "Social Ontology". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  • Haritha, P.; Priyatharshini, R.; Abishek, A. G.; Kiran, V. Kamala (2018). "Knowledge Based Framework for Genetic Disease Diagnosis Using Data Mining Technique". In Uden, Lorna; Hadzima, Branislav; Ting, I.-Hsien (eds.). Knowledge Management in Organizations: 13th International Conference, KMO 2018, Žilina, Slovakia, August 6–10, 2018, Proceedings. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-95204-8.
  • Goy, Anna; Magro, Diego (2014). "What Are Ontologies Useful For?". In Mehdi, Khosrow-Pour (ed.). Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Third Edition. IGI Global. ISBN 978-1-4666-5889-9. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  • Hawley, Katherine (2016). "Applied Metaphysics". In Lippert-Rasmussen, Kasper; Brownlee, Kimberley; Coady, David (eds.). A Companion to Applied Philosophy. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-86911-6.
  • Smith, Barry; Klagges, Bert (2008). "Philosophy and Biomedical Information Systems". In Munn, Katherine; Smith, Barry (eds.). Applied Ontology: An Introduction. Ontos Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938793-98-5.
  • Hennig, Boris (2008). "What Is Formal Ontology?". In Munn, Katherine; Smith, Barry (eds.). Applied Ontology: An Introduction. Ontos Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938793-98-5.
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