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ontologie

Ontologie (often translated as ontology in English) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of being, existence, and the basic categories that structure reality. It asks what exists, how entities can be grouped, and what it means for things to be. The term derives from Greek onto- “being” and -logia “study of.”

Historically, ontology originated with Aristotle’s analysis of substances and categories; medieval philosophers integrated ontology with theology.

In the field of information science, ontology refers to a formal specification of a shared conceptualization

Ontology is often distinguished from taxonomy; a taxonomy is a hierarchical classification of entities, whereas an

In
modern
and
contemporary
philosophy,
debates
have
focused
on
universals,
mereology
(the
theory
of
parts
and
wholes),
and
the
status
of
space
and
time.
Ontology
remains
closely
tied
to
metaphysics
and,
in
some
contexts,
to
the
philosophy
of
science.
for
a
domain.
It
defines
a
set
of
concepts
(classes),
the
properties
(relations)
among
them,
and
constraints
that
enable
data
integration,
interoperability,
and
reasoning
across
systems.
Ontologies
are
used
in
areas
such
as
medicine,
finance,
and
geography,
and
are
typically
encoded
in
machine-readable
languages
such
as
the
Web
Ontology
Language
(OWL)
and
RDF.
Tools
and
reasoners
support
consistency
checking,
inference,
and
validation
of
ontologies.
ontology
models
the
types
of
things
within
a
domain,
their
relations,
and
the
rules
that
constrain
them.
Both
concepts
influence
how
knowledge
is
organized,
shared,
and
interpreted.