2 Existence and Being Free Online FlashCards

What does ontology study?

Ontology is the branch of metaphysics that asks what exists and how existing things are fundamentally organized.

How do the questions “what exists?” and “what is being?” differ?

Asking what there is concerns reality’s inventory; asking about being concerns what it is for anything to be at all.

How does standard first-order logic express existence?

In standard first-order logic, existence is expressed with the existential quantifier: “There is a tree” means at least one thing is a tree.

What is a philosophical category?

A category is a broad kind of entity used to describe what exists and how different kinds of things relate.

What typically distinguishes concrete entities?

Concrete entities are typically located in space and time, or otherwise connected to the spatiotemporal world.

How do Platonists and nominalists differ about abstract objects?

Platonists affirm that at least some abstract objects exist independently of thought; nominalists deny that abstract objects are needed or deny that they exist.

Is existence an ordinary feature like redness or height?

On the standard logical approach, existence is not an ordinary feature of an object, like being red or tall.

What characterizes objects or substances as a category?

Objects or substances are relatively stable individuals, such as a particular tree or person.

In the tree-and-bench example, what is an object, a property, and a relation?

A tree is an object; its greenness is a property; its being beside a bench involves a relation.

What are events and processes?

Events and processes are things that happen or unfold, such as a tree falling or a seed growing.

Which entities are common examples of abstract entities?

Numbers, sets, and propositions are often included among abstract entities.

Is there a universally accepted system of categories?

Philosophers disagree about which categories are fundamental, and there is no universally accepted list of categories.