ONTOLOGY (adapted from a modern Latin form ontologia used by Jean le Clerc 1692; Gr. 6v, Evros, pres. part. of dam, to be, and klryos, science)

This article appears in Volume V20, Page 118 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ONTOLOGY (adapted from a modern Latin form ontologia used by Jean le Clerc 1692; Gr. 6v, Evros, pres. part. of dam, to be, and klryos, science) , the name given to that branch of philosophy which deals specially with the nature of being (ouQta) i.e. reality in the abstract. The

idea

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

, denoted in

modern

MODERN

philosophy by the

term

TERM

" ontology " in contrast to the broader " metaphysics " and the correlative "

epistemology

EPISTEMOLOGY

," goes back to such phrases as Evros 6vra, which Plato uses to describe the absolute reality of ideas; Plato, however, uses the

term

TERM

"dialectic " for this particular branch of metaphysics.

Aristotle

ARISTOTLE
ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)

, likewise, holding that the

separate

SEPARATE

sciences have each their own subject matter, postulates a prior science of existence in general which he describes as " first philosophy." So far, therefore, the science of being is distinguished not from that of knowing but from that of the

special

SPECIAL

forms of being: as to the possibility of objective reality there is no question. A new distinction arises in the philosophy of Wolff who first made " ontology " a technical term. Theoretical philosophy (metaphysics) is by him divided into that which deals with being in general whether objective or subjective, as contrasted with the particular entities, the soul, the world and God. The former is ontology. This intermediate stage in the

evolution

EVOLUTION

of the science of being gave place to the

modern

MODERN

view that the first duty of the philosopher is to consider knowledge itself (see

EPISTEMOLOGY

EPISTEMOLOGY

), and that only in the light of conclusion as to this

primary

PRIMARY

problem is it possible to consider
the nature, of being. The

evolution

EVOLUTION

of metaphysics has thus relegated ontology to a secondary place. On the other hand it remains true that the science of knowing is inseparable from, and in a sense identical with that of being. Epistemological conclusions cannot be expressed ultimately without the aid of ontological terms.
For the wider relations of ontology, see further PHILOSOPHY.

End of Article: ONTOLOGY (adapted from a modern Latin form ontologia used by Jean le Clerc 1692; Gr. 6v, Evros, pres. part. of dam, to be, and klryos, science)

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