Ontology

Ontology
Ontology On*tol"o*gy, n. [Gr. ? the things which exist (pl.neut. of ?, ?, being, p. pr. of ? to be) + -logy: cf. F. ontologie.] 1. That department of the science of metaphysics which investigates and explains the nature and essential properties and relations of all beings, as such, or the principles and causes of being. [1913 Webster]

2. (Computers) A systematic arrangement of all of the important categories of objects or concepts which exist in some field of discourse, showing the relations between them. When complete, an ontology is a categorization of all of the concepts in some field of knowledge, including the objects and all of the properties, relations, and functions needed to define the objects and specify their actions. A simplified ontology may contain only a hierarchical classification (a {taxonomy}) showing the type subsumption relations between concepts in the field of discourse. An ontology may be visualized as an abstract graph with nodes and labeled arcs representing the objects and relations.

Note: The concepts included in an ontology and the hierarchical ordering will be to a certain extent arbitrary, depending upon the purpose for which the ontology is created. This arises from the fact that objects are of varying importance for different purposes, and different properties of objects may be chosen as the criteria by which objects are classified. In addition, different degrees of aggregation of concepts may be used, and distinctions of importance for one purpose may be of no concern for a different purpose. [PJC]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Ontology — • An article on the science of being Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Ontology     Ontology     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • ontology — (n.) metaphysical science or study of being, 1660s (Gideon Harvey), from Mod.L. ontologia (c.1600), from ONTO (Cf. onto ) + LOGY (Cf. logy) …   Etymology dictionary

  • ontology —    Ontology is the branch of metaphysics that studies what exists. The key ontological questions for Christian philosophers, apart from the existence of God, concern the existence of the soul, and the existence of immaterial beings, such as… …   Christian Philosophy

  • ontology — ► NOUN Philosophy ▪ the branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature of being. DERIVATIVES ontological adjective ontologist noun …   English terms dictionary

  • ontology — [än täl′ə jē] n. [ModL ontologia: see ONTO & LOGY] 1. the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being, reality, or ultimate substance: cf. PHENOMENOLOGY 2. pl. ontologies a particular theory about being or reality ontological [än΄tə… …   English World dictionary

  • Ontology — This article concerns ontology in philosophy. For the concept in information science, see Ontology (information science). Not to be confused with the medical concepts of oncology and odontology, or indeed ontogeny. Parmenides was among the first… …   Wikipedia

  • ontology — ontological /on tl oj i keuhl/, ontologic, ontologistic /on tol euh jis tik/, adj. ontologist, n. /on tol euh jee/, n. 1. the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being as such. 2. (loosely) metaphysics. [1715 25; < NL… …   Universalium

  • ontology —    by Constantin V.Boundas   For Deleuze, philosophy is ontology. In this sense, he is one of only two philosophers (the other being Emmanuel Lévinas) of the generation we call poststructuralists not to demur in the face of ontology and… …   The Deleuze dictionary

  • ontology —    by Constantin V.Boundas   For Deleuze, philosophy is ontology. In this sense, he is one of only two philosophers (the other being Emmanuel Lévinas) of the generation we call poststructuralists not to demur in the face of ontology and… …   The Deleuze dictionary

  • ontology — Any way of understanding the world, or some part of it, must make assumptions (which may be implicit or explicit) about what kinds of things do or can exist in that domain, and what might be their conditions of existence, relations of dependency …   Dictionary of sociology

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