ontological

Ontological is an adjective relating to ontology, the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of being, existence, and the organization of reality. The term derives from the Greek ont, being, and logos, study.

In philosophy, ontological questions probe what kinds of things exist, such as objects, properties, events, and relations, and how they are related. Debates include whether universals exist independently (realism) or only as names (nominalism), and what it means for something to be. These discussions explore the criteria for what entities must be admitted as part of a theory of the world and how those entities are categorized.

The ontological argument is a family of a priori arguments for the existence of God, historically associated with Anselm and later developed by Descartes. It has faced many objections, including Gaunilo's parody and Kant's claim that existence is not a real predicate. Despite disputes, the argument remains a central reference point in discussions of divine existence and the nature of necessity.

In information science and artificial intelligence, ontologies are formal, shared vocabularies that specify concepts and the relationships among them in a domain. They support knowledge representation, data integration, and the semantic Web by clarifying the ontological commitments of a system and enabling interoperability across data sources.

The term is also used more broadly to describe the purported status of entities within a given theory or framework, for example the ontological status of abstract objects, events, or fictional entities.