Scribd
Upload
104 views4 pages

The Social Science Jargon Buster: Ontology

Ontology is the Branch of philosophy concerned with the study of what exists, and how things that exist are understood and categorized. There are different ways of knowing (see epistemology), and therefore different conceptions of'real' Some examples here are constructed things, say for example, doughnuts (would 'doughnuts' be real if all doughnuts were destroyed never to be made again?

Uploaded by

Ig Srikanth
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
104 views4 pages

The Social Science Jargon Buster: Ontology

Ontology is the Branch of philosophy concerned with the study of what exists, and how things that exist are understood and categorized. There are different ways of knowing (see epistemology), and therefore different conceptions of'real' Some examples here are constructed things, say for example, doughnuts (would 'doughnuts' be real if all doughnuts were destroyed never to be made again?

Uploaded by

Ig Srikanth
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

The Social Science Jargon Buster

Ontology

Contributors: Zina O'Leary Print Pub. Date: 2007 Print ISBN: 9781412921770 Online ISBN: 9780857020147 DOI: 10.4135/9780857020147 Print pages: 181-182 This PDF has been generated from SAGE Research Methods. Please note that the pagination of the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book.

Indian Inst of Mangmt-Indore Copyright 2012

SAGE Publications, Inc.

Ontology Core definition


Branch of philosophy concerned with the study of what exists, and how things that exist are understood and categorized.

Longer explanation
The main question addressed by ontology is what types of things actually exist? And you may be surprised by the debate this generates. You see, there are different ways of knowing (see epistemology), and therefore different conceptions of real. For example, take the category of physical or concrete objects. We live in a world where knowledge tends to come from our senses (see empiricism), so things we can see or touch are generally thought to exist. But what about abstract things we tend to know about and even use, but can't touch? Are they real, or just constructs of the mind? And if they are just constructs of the mind, are they any less real? Take, for example, properties like softness or pinkness. The ontological question here is whether these things exist independently of any particular examples of them (would pinkness exist if there was nothing in the world the colour pink?). Another ontological category is abstract entities like time, space, and numbers things we can conceptualize but can't put in our pocket. There are a number of other difficult ontological cases. Some examples here are constructed things, say for example, doughnuts (would doughnuts be real if all doughnuts were destroyed never to be made again?); the mind (do you agree with I think therefore I am?); relationships (the concept of near or far); and of course, God (is faith enough to create existence?).

Page 2 of 4

The Social Science Jargon Buster: Ontology Sage Research Methods

Indian Inst of Mangmt-Indore Copyright 2012

SAGE Publications, Inc.

Debates and controversies


So who gets to say what's real? Well empiricists, who believe that all knowledge is limited to what can be observed by the senses, would have a difficult time acknowledging anything other than concrete objects. But there are competing epistemologies (other ways of knowing). Those with religious epistemologies would say that God is real, while those with indigenous ways of knowing would accept myths and legends. The postmodernist (see post-modernity), however, might question whether knowledge is ever anything more than political.

Practical application
Believe it or not, this philosophical construct does impact on the social scientist's world. Researchers, for example, increasingly recognize the limitations inherent in a positivist worldview, in which the only things we can know are external and physically observable. Post-positivist researchers acknowledge that humans play a large part in the construction of knowledge, and truth may be more ambiguous and fluid than once thought.

Key figures
While ontological debates go as far back as Plato and Aristotle, a number of more recent key philosophers, such as Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Husserl, and Wittgenstein, have argued various ontological positions and debated which categories of being should be considered fundamental. The first law of reason is what exists, exists; what is, is; and from this irreducible bedrock principle all knowledge is built. Terry Goodkind (1948-) US author -in Faith of the Fallen (2000)

Page 3 of 4

The Social Science Jargon Buster: Ontology Sage Research Methods

Indian Inst of Mangmt-Indore Copyright 2012

SAGE Publications, Inc.

Recommended readings
To get your head into this philosophical quagmire, I'd try Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics (Conee and Sider 2005), Ontology (Jacquette 2002) or the readings offered in Metaphysics: An Anthology (Kim and Sosa 1999). Another interesting choice here is Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time (Sider 2003). 10.4135/9780857020147.n90

Page 4 of 4

The Social Science Jargon Buster: Ontology Sage Research Methods

You might also like