In philosophy, ontology (from the Greek , genitive : of being (part. of : to be) and -λογία: science, study, theory) is the study of being or existence. This most fundamental branch of metaphysics seeks to describe or posit the basic categories and relationships of being or existence to define entities and types of entities within its framework. Ontology can be said to study conceptions of reality.

Some philosophers, notably of the Platonic school, contend that all nouns refer to entities. Other philosophers contend that some nouns do not name entities but provide a kind of shorthand way of referring to a collection (of either objects or events). In this latter view, mind, instead of referring to an entity, refers to a collection of mental events experienced by a person; society refers to a collection of persons with some shared characteristics, and geometry refers to a collection of a specific kind of intellectual activity. Any ontology must give an account of which words refer to entities, which do not, why, and what categories result. When one applies this process to nouns such as electrons, energy, contract, happiness, time, truth, causality, and God, ontology becomes fundamental to many branches of philosophy.

Some basic questions

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RT @kendall Will an #OWL2 ontology be one of the deliverables out of OASIS activities? --- Yes, Common Logic and OWL 2 DL versions #QUOMOS
frankolken (Frank Olken) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:36:22 -0000
RT @kendall Will an #OWL2 ontology be one of the deliverables out of OASIS activities? --- Yes, Common Logic and OWL 2 DL versions #QUOMOS

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