I also agree. I was going to write a similar answer. I’ll just add my nuance as a comment to Zach’s answer.
I said a bunch about ontologies in my post on fake frameworks. There I give examples and I define reductionism in terms of comparing ontologies. The upshot is what I read Zach emphasizing here: an ontology is a collection of things you consider “real” together with some rules for how to combine them into a coherent thingie (a map, though it often won’t feel on the inside like a map).
Maybe the purest example type is an axiomatic system. The undefined terms are ontological primitives, and the axioms are the rules for combining them. We usually combine an axiomatic system with a model to create a sense of being in a space. The classic example of this sort being Euclidean geometry.
But in practice most folk use much more fuzzy and informal ontologies, and often switch between seemingly incompatible ones as needed. Your paycheck, the government, cancer, and a sandwich are all “real” in lots of folks’ worldview, but they don’t always clearly relate the kinds of “real” because how they relate doesn’t usually matter.
I think ontologies are closely related to frames. I wonder if frames are just a special kind of ontology, or maybe the term we give for a particular use of ontologies. Mentioning this in case frames feel more intuitive than ontologies do.
(I agree. I think frames and ontologies are closely related; in particular, ontologies are comprehensive while frames just tell you what to focus on, without needing to give an account of everything.)
I also agree. I was going to write a similar answer. I’ll just add my nuance as a comment to Zach’s answer.
I said a bunch about ontologies in my post on fake frameworks. There I give examples and I define reductionism in terms of comparing ontologies. The upshot is what I read Zach emphasizing here: an ontology is a collection of things you consider “real” together with some rules for how to combine them into a coherent thingie (a map, though it often won’t feel on the inside like a map).
Maybe the purest example type is an axiomatic system. The undefined terms are ontological primitives, and the axioms are the rules for combining them. We usually combine an axiomatic system with a model to create a sense of being in a space. The classic example of this sort being Euclidean geometry.
But in practice most folk use much more fuzzy and informal ontologies, and often switch between seemingly incompatible ones as needed. Your paycheck, the government, cancer, and a sandwich are all “real” in lots of folks’ worldview, but they don’t always clearly relate the kinds of “real” because how they relate doesn’t usually matter.
I think ontologies are closely related to frames. I wonder if frames are just a special kind of ontology, or maybe the term we give for a particular use of ontologies. Mentioning this in case frames feel more intuitive than ontologies do.
(I agree. I think frames and ontologies are closely related; in particular, ontologies are comprehensive while frames just tell you what to focus on, without needing to give an account of everything.)