Ontology

Waqar Ahmad
Department of Political Science
University of Peshawar
 • The word ontology comes from two Greek
words: Onto means Existence or Being Real
and Logia means Science or study

Ontology: • Ontology is used both in Philosophical

contexts and in the non-philosophical
contexts
 • In philosophy Ontology is the study of what exists
in general, what is real. What are the fundamental
Ontology in parts of the world and how are they related to each
other?
Philosophical • Are the physical parts more real than the
contexts: immaterial concepts?
Why is Ontology
important in Philosophy?

• The concept of ontology is used

by philosophers to discuss
challenging questions and build
theories and models and
consequently better understand
the ontological status of the
world.
 1. Ontological Materialism: From Philosophical
perspective, ontological materialism is the belief
that material things such as particles, chemical
Two major processes, and energy are more real than the
human mind. The reality exists regardless of
Branches of human observations.

Philosophical 2. Ontological Idealism: Ontological materialism

believes that immaterial phenomena such as
Ontology: human mind and consciousness are more real
than the material things. The belief here is that
reality exists in the mind of the observer.
Ontology in non-
Philosophical contexts:
• Ontology has a narrow meaning outside philosophy. Here
ontology is the description of what exists specifically in a
determined field. For example, every part that exist in a
specific information system. This includes the relationship and
hierarchy between these parts.
• Unlike the philosophers these researchers are not interested
primarily in discussing if these things are the true essence or
core of the system, nor or they interested in discussing
whether the parts within the system are more real compared
to the processes that takes place within the system.
• Rather they are interested in naming parts and processes and
grouping similar ones into categories.
Social Ontology:
• In social ontology the idea is to describe society and its
different parts and processes. The purpose of this is to
understand and describe the underlying structures that
affect individuals and groups.