ontic

Ontic is a philosophical term used to describe aspects of reality that exist independently and concretely. Derived from the Greek ontikos, related to ontos or "being," the word is used to distinguish concrete existence from more abstract inquiries. In philosophy, ontic contrasts with epistemic and with ontological; ontic concerns what there is in the world—the actual entities and states—whereas epistemic relates to knowledge or belief about those entities, and ontological concerns the nature and categories of being itself.

When philosophers discuss theories, they often speak of ontic commitments or ontic status, signaling which entities a theory posits as part of the real world. An ontic claim asserts the real existence of specific things or states, beyond mere descriptions or opinions. This usage helps clarify debates about what a theory says exists and how it purportedly exists.

In the philosophy of science and especially in quantum foundations, the ontic–epistemic distinction is used to classify representations of a system. An ontic state is intended to correspond to the actual state of a system, while an epistemic state encodes knowledge or information about that system. The distinction gained prominence in discussions about whether the quantum state represents real physical reality or merely information about possibilities; foundational discussions include work by Harrigan and Spekkens (2010) on ontic and epistemic interpretations of quantum states.