Ontology

(Metaphysic)
Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar (PhD)
Faculty of Social Science and Humanities,
UKM Bangi
E-mail: mostafa@ukm.edu.my

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 1

Central question of Metaphysic
 Appearance and reality (ontology)
 Mind and Matter
 Object and Property
 Identity and change (philosophy of mind)
 Space and time
 Religion and spirituality
 Necessity and Possibility
 Abstract object and mathematic
 Cosmology and cosmogony
 Determinism and Free will

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 2

Ontology
 Etymology: New Latin ontologia, from ont- + -logia –logy;
first known use: circa 1721
 a branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature and
relations of being
 a particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds
of things that have existence
 A branch of metaphysics concerned with identifying, in
the most general terms, the kinds of things that actually
exist. Thus, the "ontological commitments" of a
philosophical position include both its explicit assertions
and its implicit presuppositions about the existence of
entities, substances, or beings of particular kinds.

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 3

Ontology
 The philosophical study of being in general, or of what
applies neutrally to everything that is real. It was called
“first philosophy” by Aristotle in Book IV of his
Metaphysics. The Latin term ontologia (“science of
being”) was felicitously invented by the German
philosopher Jacob Lorhard (Lorhardus) and first
appeared in his work Ogdoas Scholastica (1st ed.) in
1606. It entered general circulation after being
popularized by the German rationalist philosopher
Christian Wolff in his Latin writings, especially
Philosophia Prima sive Ontologia (1730; “First
Philosophy or Ontology”).... (89 of 1,249 words

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 4

Ontology
 Theory of being as such. It was originally called “first
philosophy” by Aristotle. In the 18th century Christian Wolff
contrasted ontology, or general metaphysics, with special
metaphysical theories of souls, bodies, or God, claiming
that ontology could be a deductive discipline revealing the
essences of things. This view was later strongly criticized
by David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Ontology was revived
in the early 20th century by practitioners of phenomenology
and existentialism, notably Edmund Husserl and his
student Martin Heidegger. In the English-speaking world,
interest in ontology was renewed in the mid-20th century by
W.V.O. Quine; by the end of the century it had become a
central discipline of analytic philosophy. See also idealism;
realism; universal.
Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 5
Ontology
 A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the
investigation into what categories of things are
in the world and what relations these things
bear to one another.
 Ontology tries to answer; what is really real or
reality? How reality differs from what may seem
to be real but actually is not (appearance)!;
definition of deferent kinds of being?

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 6

Common Daily question?
 Genuine from phony?
 Substance from mask?
 Fact from fiction?
 Reality form appearance?

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 7

Kinds of things!

chair tree love anger

space you time book

Self cake God red

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 8

Categorical ontology

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 9

Definition of different kinds of
existence/being
Material (tree)
Immaterial/Ideas
(self)
Spatial (need space) Non-spatial (no
space)
Public (observable) Private (non-vision)
Mechanical (non- Teleological (behave
intentional; law of as will)
nature)
Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 10
Ontological Theory
 The three major positions
 Materialism, which considers matter and the
motion of matter as the universal reality. Ideas
are simply manifestations of matter.
Naturalism and positivism are forms of
materialism
 Idealism, which maintains that what is real is
in the form of thought rather than matter;
matter is an illusion
 Dualism, which gives thought and matter
equal status
Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 11
Ontology of reality (What is really
real?)

Ontology

Materialism Idealism Dualism

spatial Non-spatial Parallelism

public private

mechanical teleological

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 12

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 13
What is ultimately real?
Materialism Idealism

Empirically observable (car) Conceptually understood (car as

transportation). Form
Intersubjectively verifiable Permanent and independent of
(observable to more than one other objects; subjective (idea of
individual); objective (sensible car) car)

Consistent with our other belief Mind-independent

(fits in with normal expectation)

Keep changing (becoming) permanence (being)

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 14

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 15
How do matter (physical) & idea
(mental) relate to each other

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 16

Ontological existence

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 17

Which is real?

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 18

Reference
 David Stewart & H Gene Blocker. (1996).
Fundamentals of Philosophy. 4th eds. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall (pg. 99-181)
 Kessler, G.E. 1992. Voices of wisdom: multi-
cultural philosophy reader. California:
Wadsworth Publishing Company (p. 217-259)
 Warburton, Nigel. 1992. Philosophy: The Basic.
London: Routledge (p. 1-9) Warburton, Nigel.
1992. Philosophy: The Basic. London:
Routledge (p. 89-107)

Tuesday, April 07, 2015 Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar 19