entityhood

Entityhood refers to the status or condition of being an entity—a thing that exists with a determinate identity and causal standing within a given framework of discourse or reality. In philosophical use, an entity is any bearer of properties that can be referred to, compared, and discussed, and which can bear causal relations. Entityhood typically entails some degree of persistence through time and a discernible boundary that distinguishes it from other things. The concept is used to analyze what kinds of things can be said to exist: physical objects, events, processes, mental states, numbers, or social constructs may all be granted entityhood in different theories.

Philosophical debates surrounding entityhood address questions of identity over time, the nature of boundaries, and the criteria by which something is counted as a single thing rather than a bundle of parts. Issues such as mereology (the relation of wholes to parts), the distinction between continuants and perdurants, and the status of abstract objects, fictional entities, or social constructs are widely discussed. Different philosophical frameworks vary in what they count as legitimate entities and how they treat universals, essences, or dispositions as part of an entity’s identity.

In practice, the notion of entityhood appears in law, information management, and artificial intelligence. Legally, entities such as corporations or governments are treated as separate from individuals for rights and liabilities. In data and knowledge management, entities are the referents represented by records or objects in databases and ontologies. In AI and modeling, determining whether a system or component qualifies as an entity influences representation, reasoning, and interaction with other elements.