At Iverson Software, we build databases, and every database requires a schema. In philosophy, Ontology is the “master schema” of the universe. It is the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of being, existence, and reality. It asks the most fundamental structural questions: What categories of things exist? and How do these categories relate to one another?
1. The Inventory of Reality: What’s on the Disk?
The primary task of an ontologist is to create an inventory of everything that is “real.” This is harder than it sounds.
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Concrete Entities: Physical objects like trees, servers, and human bodies.
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Abstract Entities: Things that don’t take up space but still “exist” in some sense, such as numbers, sets, and the laws of logic.
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Properties: Does “Redness” exist as a thing itself, or are there just red objects?
2. Universalism vs. Nominalism
One of the oldest “debugging” sessions in philosophy concerns the status of Universals.
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Universalism: The belief that general properties (like “circularity”) are real things that exist independently of any specific circle.
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Nominalism: The belief that only individual, specific objects exist. “Circularity” is just a name (a nomen) we use to group similar things together—it has no existence of its own.
3. Applied Ontology in Information Science
In the 21st century, ontology has moved from abstract philosophy to the core of the Semantic Web and Artificial Intelligence.
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Knowledge Representation: In computer science, an “ontology” is a formal way of representing properties and relationships between concepts in a specific domain.
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Interoperability: By creating a shared ontology (like the “Gene Ontology” in biology), different software systems can “understand” each other because they are using the same definitions for the same entities.
4. Mereology: The Logic of Parts and Wholes
A critical sub-field of ontology is Mereology—the study of parts and the wholes they form.
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The Sum of Parts: Is a “computer” just a collection of silicon and plastic, or is it a new entity that emerges when those parts are assembled?
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Identity Over Time: If you replace the hard drive, RAM, and screen of a laptop over five years, is it still the same “object” in your inventory?
Why Ontology Matters to Our Readers
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Structured Thinking: Learning ontology helps you build better mental models, allowing you to categorize complex information more efficiently.
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Data Architecture: For developers and architects, philosophical ontology provides the theoretical background for creating robust class hierarchies and database schemas.
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AI Clarity: As we move toward more advanced AI, the ability to define clear, unambiguous ontologies is what prevents machines from making “category errors” that lead to logical failures.