We explain what ontology is, its origin and what are ontological problems. Also, his sense in computing and communication.
What is ontology?
The ontology o metaphysics General is a branch of the philosophy dedicated to the study of the relationships between entities, that is, of the things that exist in the reality. It is about the discipline in charge of seeking answers to the fundamental and transcendent questions of human existence, that is to say, that carries out questions regarding the essence of things and things. beings.
The field of study of ontology dates from the antiquity when the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) cultivated it under the name of metaphysics (beyond the physical) and understood it as the "first philosophy". However, it took on its current meaning when the German philosopher Jacob Lorhard (1561-1609) coined it in his work Ogdoas Scholastica of 1606. The term brings together the Greek words ontos ("What is") and logos (“science"Or" theory ").
Ontology acquired its modern meaning thanks to the inheritance of medieval scholasticism, and to the work of such philosophers as Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) or the later Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). Thus, he distinguished between two forms of ontology:
- The formal ontology, dedicated to the study of all essences, from a general point of view.
- The material ontology, dedicated to the study of the material essences, that is, of the objects themselves, and therefore specific according to their nature. Therefore, it is multiple and is known as the set of "regional" ontologies.
On the other hand, in the field of computing and the communication Sciences, the word ontology is used with a relatively similar meaning: as a name of the discipline that catalogs and defines the entities that make up a computational system and establishes the relationships between them. In these fields, ontologies are created to organize the variables of the computerized set and then be able to move towards the resolution of problems.
Ontological problems
The "ontological problems" are conceptual situations that pose a challenge for ontology, that is, questions that are difficult to answer from our traditional vision of what it means to be or what essence means. Many philosophers have dealt with the problems that arise when trying to come up with a stable definition of being and essence, and have been forced to confront them through creativity and of the logic.
In any case, the ontological problem (thus, in the singular) is fundamentally the question of being. What is being? What is there? What do we mean when we say that something is? This is one of the central questions of every philosophical tradition and each school of thought has found its ways to answer it, either by paying attention to what is perceived by the senses, or to the ideas themselves, etc.
At the same time, there are particular ontological problems, which are dealt with not only by ontology, but by disciplines such as psychology and the epistemology, among other. Some of these problems are:
- The abstract entities. It is known that there are two types of objects: concrete, tangible, that we find in real life, and those that exist only in our mind, such as numbers or numbers. sets. However, where is the line that separates the abstract reality from the concrete? At what point does an object become one or another type?
- The levels of the matter. We all know what a chair is, and that in general they are made of wood, and that the latter is made up of chains of polymers, which in turn are chains of protein, the latter composed of molecules and these for atoms. At what point, throughout this vision of matter, does the chair itself cease to exist? What distinguishes the atoms in the chair from the atoms in the soil in which it is found?
- The location of the mind. If the human mind is "found" in the brain, why is it not there when we open one? How is the mind produced from the matter that makes up our bodies? This dilemma is part of the tradition that opposes the body and the mind, the latter formerly called soul, spirit, divine breath, etc.
- The dilemma of the holes. What are the holes made of? How can they be perceived, if they are composed of "nothing"? How is it possible that we speak of them as if they were, then, common objects?