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Ontology
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exist on the most fundamental level. Ontologists often try to determine what the categories or highest kinds are and how they form a system of categories that encompasses classification of all entities. Commonly proposed categories include substances, properties, relations, states of affairs and events. These categories are characterized by fundamental ontological concepts, including particularity and universality, abstractness and concreteness, or possibility and necessity. Of special interest is the concept of ontological dependence, which determines whether the entities of a category exist on the most fundamental level. Disagreements within ontology are often about whether entities belonging to a certain category exist and, if so, ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between mind and matter, between Substance theory, substance and Property (philosophy), attribute, and between potentiality and actuality. The word "metaphysics" comes from two Greek words that, together, literally mean "after or behind or among [the study of] the natural". It has been suggested that the term might have been coined by a first century CE editor who assembled various small selections of Aristotle's works into the treatise we now know by the name Metaphysics (Aristotle), ''Metaphysics'' (μετὰ τὰ φυσικά, ''meta ta physika'', 'after the Physics (Aristotle), ''Physics'' ', another of Aristotle's works). Metaphysics studies questions related to what it is for something to exist an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Category Of Being
In ontology, the theory of categories concerns itself with the ''categories of being'': the highest ''genera'' or ''kinds of entities'' according to Amie Thomasson. To investigate the categories of being, or simply categories, is to determine the most fundamental and the broadest classes of entities. A distinction between such categories, in making the categories or applying them, is called an ontological distinction. Various systems of categories have been proposed, they often include categories for substances, properties, relations, states of affairs or events. A representative question within the theory of categories might articulate itself, for example, in a query like, " Are universals prior to particulars?" Early development The process of abstraction required to discover the number and names of the categories of being has been undertaken by many philosophers since Aristotle and involves the careful inspection of each concept to ensure that there is no higher category or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudolph Goclenius
Rudolph Goclenius the Elder ( la, Rudolphus Goclenius; born ''Rudolf Gockel'' or ''Göckel''; 1 March 1547 – 8 June 1628) was a German scholastic philosopher. Gockel is often credited with coining the term "psychology" in 1590, though the term had been used by Marko Marulić at least 66 years earlier. Gockel had extensive backing, and made significant contributions to the field of ontology. He extended the development of many ideas from Aristotle. Several of Gockel's ideas were published and built upon by later philosophers. Life He was born in Korbach, Waldeck (now in Waldeck-Frankenberg, Hesse). He attended the universities at the University of Erfurt, the University of Marburg and the University of Wittenberg, where he finished his studies with a M.A. in 1571. In the following years he directed the gymnasiums in his hometown Korbach (1573) and in Kassel ( Michaelmas 1575). In 1581, Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Kassel, who was a reputed astronomer, refused his wish to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Substance (philosophy)
Substance theory, or substance–attribute theory, is an ontological theory positing that objects are constituted each by a ''substance'' and properties borne by the substance but distinct from it. In this role, a substance can be referred to as a ''substratum'' or a '' thing-in-itself''. ''Substances'' are particulars that are ontologically independent: they are able to exist all by themselves. Another defining feature often attributed to substances is their ability to ''undergo changes''. Changes involve something existing ''before'', ''during'' and ''after'' the change. They can be described in terms of a persisting substance gaining or losing properties. ''Attributes'' or ''properties'', on the other hand, are entities that can be exemplified by substances. Properties characterize their bearers, they express what their bearer is like. ''Substance'' is a key concept in ontology and metaphysics, which may be classified into monist, dualist, or pluralist varieties according ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Of Affairs (philosophy)
In philosophy, a state of affairs (german: Sachverhalt), also known as a situation, is a way the actual world must be in order to make some given ''proposition'' about the actual world true; in other words, a state of affairs is a ''truth-maker'', whereas a proposition is a ''truth-bearer''. Whereas states of affairs either ''obtain'' or ''fail-to-obtain'', propositions are either ''true'' or ''false''. Some philosophers understand the term "states of affairs" in a more restricted sense as a synonym for " fact". In this sense, there are no states of affairs that do not obtain. David Malet Armstrong is well known for his defence of a factualism, a position according to which the world is a world of facts and not a world of things. Overview States of affairs are complex entities: they are built up from or constituted by other entities. Atomic states of affairs are constituted by one particular and one property exemplified by this particular. For example, the state of affairs that So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ogdoas Scholastica
Jacob Lorhard ( la, Jacobus Lorhardus; 1561 – 19 May 1609) was a German philosopher and pedagogue based in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Biography Lorhard was born in Münsingen, in the Duchy of Württemberg. He studied at the University of Tübingen. In 1603 he became Rector of the Gymnasium in St. Gallen. In 1606 he published ''Ogdoas scholastica'', which contains the word " ontologia" – probably appearing for the first time ever in a book. He uses "Ontologia" synonymously with "Metaphysica". The following year he received the offer of becoming Professor of Theology at the University of Marburg from Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel. Rudolph Göckel was also professor in Marburg in logic, ethics, and mathematics at this time. Lorhard and Göckel probably met one or several times during 1607 sharing their views with one another. For whatever reason, his stay in Marburg was brief and he soon returned to his former position in St. Gallen. Lorhard died on 19 May 1609. In 16 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob Lorhard
Jacob Lorhard ( la, Jacobus Lorhardus; 1561 – 19 May 1609) was a German philosopher and pedagogue based in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Biography Lorhard was born in Münsingen, in the Duchy of Württemberg. He studied at the University of Tübingen. In 1603 he became Rector of the Gymnasium in St. Gallen. In 1606 he published ''Ogdoas scholastica'', which contains the word " ontologia" – probably appearing for the first time ever in a book. He uses "Ontologia" synonymously with "Metaphysica". The following year he received the offer of becoming Professor of Theology at the University of Marburg from Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel. Rudolph Göckel was also professor in Marburg in logic, ethics, and mathematics at this time. Lorhard and Göckel probably met one or several times during 1607 sharing their views with one another. For whatever reason, his stay in Marburg was brief and he soon returned to his former position in St. Gallen. Lorhard died on 19 May 1609. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
States Of Affairs
In philosophy, a state of affairs (german: Sachverhalt), also known as a situation, is a way the actual world must be in order to make some given ''proposition'' about the actual world true; in other words, a state of affairs is a ''truth-maker'', whereas a proposition is a ''truth-bearer''. Whereas states of affairs either ''obtain'' or ''fail-to-obtain'', propositions are either ''true'' or ''false''. Some philosophers understand the term "states of affairs" in a more restricted sense as a synonym for " fact". In this sense, there are no states of affairs that do not obtain. David Malet Armstrong is well known for his defence of a factualism, a position according to which the world is a world of facts and not a world of things. Overview States of affairs are complex entities: they are built up from or constituted by other entities. Atomic states of affairs are constituted by one particular and one property exemplified by this particular. For example, the state of affairs that So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Property (philosophy)
In logic and philosophy (especially metaphysics), a property is a characteristic of an Object (philosophy), object; a red object is said to have the property of redness. The property may be considered a form of object in its own right, able to possess other properties. A property, however, differs from individual objects in that it may be instantiation principle, instantiated, and often in more than one object. It differs from the logical/mathematical concept of class (set theory), class by not having any concept of extensionality, and from the philosophical concept of class (philosophy), class in that a property is considered to be distinct from the objects which possess it. Understanding how different individual entities (or particulars) can in some sense have some of the same properties is the basis of the problem of universals. Terms and usage A property is any member of a class of entities that are capable of being attributed to objects. Terms similar to ''property'' include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, reality is the totality of a system, known and unknown. Philosophical questions about the nature of reality or existence or being are considered under the rubric of ontology, which is a major branch of metaphysics in the Western philosophical tradition. Ontological questions also feature in diverse branches of philosophy, including the philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophical logic. These include questions about whether only physical objects are real (i.e., physicalism), whether reality is fundamentally immaterial (e.g. idealism), whether hypothetical unobservable entities posited by scientific theories exist, whether a 'God' exists, whether numbers and other abstract objects exist, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relations (philosophy)
Relations are ways in which things, the relata, stand to each other. Relations are in many ways similar to properties in that both characterize the things they apply to. Properties are sometimes treated as a special case of relations involving only one relatum. In philosophy (especially metaphysics), theories of relations are typically introduced to account for repetitions of how several things stand to each other. Overview The concept of ''relation'' has a long and complicated history. One of the interests for the Greek philosophers lay in the number of ways in which a particular thing might be described, and the establishment of a relation between one thing and another was one of these. A second interest lay in the difference between these relations and the things themselves. This was to culminate in the view that the things in themselves could not be known except through their relations. Debates similar to these continue into modern philosophy and include further investigation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Becoming (philosophy)
In philosophy, becoming is a concept referring to constant change opposed to being. It is the focus of process philosophy as a whole, or with the related study of process theology. History Nietzsche and Kierkegaard In his written works, Friedrich Nietzsche proposed what has been regarded as a philosophy of becoming that encompasses a "naturalistic doctrine intended to counter the metaphysical preoccupation with being", and a theory of "the incessant shift of perspectives and interpretations in a world that lacks a grounding essence". Søren Kierkegaard posed questions of individual becoming in Christianity which were opposed to the ancient Greek philosophers' focus on the indifferent becoming of the cosmos. However, he established as much of a focus on aporia as Heraclitus and others previously had, such as in his concept of the leap of faith which marks an individual becoming. As well as this, Kierkegaard opposed his philosophy to Hegel's system of philosophy approaching bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
