If you are reading this hoping to understand what the above word and phrase mean, then the title may have lead you astray. I am currently trying to complete some reading and a short response for a Masters unit to a question about an ‘Ontological view of the world’. Obviously, if my students were to state that they didn’t understand a question that was asked, I’d hope they’d make some effort to understand the question before going too far with their reading & research. So here’s my attempt to get my head around that phrase ‘Ontological view of the world’.
I’ve started with Ontology, and come across the definition that states it is ‘the study of the nature of being, or existence’.
Now, I’m not really sure what that means, but I do know what Geology and Biology are, which can be defined as
Biology: The study of the nature of living things
Geology: The study of the nature of rocky things (ok, so that’s a bit primary school, but I think that will do for the moment).
The adjective ‘Biological’ describes something that is related to the nature of living things, and similarly, Geological can be defined as something that is related to the nature of rocky things.
The phrase ‘Biological view of the world’, to me, is the lens you use when you investigate the nature and interrelatedness of living things, and a ‘Geological view of the world’, to me, is the lens you use when you investigate the nature and interrelatedness of rocky things.
Therefore an ‘Ontological view of the world’ must be lens you use when you investigate the nature and interrelatedness of being, or existence.
Let’s see how that goes.