Philosophy-Ontology Flashcards
Three definitions of Ontology
1). Ontology is the study of being.
2). Ontology studies the concepts of what is real
3). is the philosophical study is being in general, or of what applies to everything that is real
Foundationalism
Foundationalist philosophers believe that to arrive at a truth it is necessary to start with the most fundamental issues and then work our way up from there to move to specific questions.
If you believe in foundationalism then probably the most important questions are __________
Ontological questions
What is ontology relevant to?
Religion and Spirituality
Provide Onotological statements
~ Everything is made of atoms and energy
~ Everything is made of a consciousness
~ You have a soul
~ You have a mind
Ontology is generally considered to be a sub-field of what?
Metaphysics
Define Metaphyisics
The study of the fundamental nature of reality
What is the difference between ontological questions and metaphysical questions
Ontology asks ‘WHAT”; Metaphysics asks “HOW”
Ontology is one of the _____ forms of philosophy
Oldest
Greek philosophers were what?
Obsessive ontologists
Aristotle made a highly influential argument about
“Ladder of Nature”
what did Aristotles argument state?
Non-living things were at the bottom of the ladder (rocks, and clouds). then moved to plants, then animals, then humans.
What is Aristotles Moral theory?
the theory of the ultimate nature of reality
Aristotles kind of philosophical ontology wasn’t only practiced in the ______ it was also practiced where?
it wasn’t only practiced in the West, it was also practice in Arab, Indian, and Chinese philosophy.
What did the Arab, Indian, and Chinese philosophers do?
Studied the world around them, deduced general “rules” of existence, and tried to categorize things.
what did the Arab, and Roman philosophers argue about?
Arabs argues about Aristotle, and the romans argues about the Indian Vedic traditions.
The scientific revolution brought what?
A serious change to ontology
What did these early scientists realize?
the only way to be certain that they were discovering truths about nature was ti forget about anything that couldn’t be testes and proven. this included:
1). supernatural beings
2). divine forces
3). souls
What did the early scientists rely on?
Physical laws, which were matter and energy which seemed to be measurable and obey reliable laws
scientific ontology has been successful in terms of understanding
successful in terms of understanding nature and controlling it that it has come to dominate the way we think about everything.
God is not
the sort of thing that can be proven or disproven by experiment - God belongs to a different ONTOLOGICAL CATEGORY from the natural phenomena that we observe in science.
what did Aristotle call Ontology?
“The first philosophy” in book IV (4) of his metaphysics.
The Latin term of ontology is _______
it was invented by who?
and first appeared in what?
1). onologia “science of being”
2). German philosopher Jacob Lorhard (Lorhardus)
3). first appeared in Lorhard’s work “Ogdoas Scholistica” (1 ed.) in 1606
Who was Jacob Lohard’s work popularized by?
German rationalist philosopher Christian Wolff in his Latin writings called “Philosophia Prima live Ontologia” (First Philosophy or Ontology) in 1730.
Christian Wolff claimed that ontology was a
priori discipline that could reveal the essence of things.