ontology

noun5

1. •
   The branch of metaphysics that addresses the nature or essential characteristics of being and of things that exist; the study of being qua being.
2. •
   In a subject view, or a world view, the set of conceptual or material things or classes of things that are recognised as existing, or are assumed to exist in context, and their interrelations; in a body of theory, the ontology comprises the domain of discourse, the things that are defined as existing, together with whatever emerges from their mutual implications.

   • Research centered on ontology and security argues that the far-right utilizes cultural anxieties to recruit members of dominant cultures within a society who feel left behind in some way. — 2020
3. •
   The theory of a particular philosopher or school of thought concerning the fundamental types of entity in the universe.

   • The answer to the controversial question of whether Aristotle's ontology includes non-substantial particulars, then, is that it does. — 2000
4. •
   A structure of concepts or entities within a domain, organized by relationships; a system model.
5. •
   A logical system involving theory of classes, developed by Stanislaw Lesniewski (1886-1939).