Glossary of Marxist Philosophy

Ontology

1. In pre-Marxist philosophy Ontology, or the "First Philosophy", was the doctrine of being in general, being as such, independent of its particular forms. In this sense Ontology, is equivalent to metaphysics (q.v.), a system of speculative universal definitions of being. Aristotle (q.v.) was the first to introduce the concept of such a doctrine. In the late Middle Ages, Catholic philosophers utilised the Aristotelian idea of metaphysics to construct a doctrine of being which would serve as philosophical proof of the truths of religion. This tendency was most fully elaborated in the philosophical theological system of Thomas Aquinas (q.v.). Since the 16th century, Ontology has been understood as a special part of metaphysics, the doctrine of the super-sensuous, non-material structure of everything existing. The term Ontology was coined by the German philosopher Rudolf Goclenius (1613).

The idea of Ontology received its final shape in the philosophy of Wolff (q.v.) which lost all connection with the content of the specific sciences and constructed Ontology largely through abstract deductive and grammatical analysis of its concepts (being, possibility and reality, quantity and quality, substance and accident, cause and effect, etc.). An opposite tendency was displayed in the materialist doctrines of Hobbes, Spinoza, and Locke (qq.v.) and the French 18th century materialists, inasmuch as the positive content of these doctrines, which were based on the experimental sciences, objectively undermined the concept of Ontology as a philosophical subject of the highest rank, as "First Philosophy".

Criticism of Ontology by the German classical idealists (Kant, Hegel, qq.v., and others) was dual: on the one hand, Ontology was declared to be meaningless and tautological and, on the other, this criticism ended in the demand for a new, more perfect Ontology. (metaphysics) or its replacement by transcendental philosophy (Kant), a system of transcendental idealism (Schelling, q.v.) or by logic (Hegel). Hegel's system anticipated in an idealist form the idea of the unity of Ontology (dialectics), logic, and the theory of knowledge and indicated a way out of the framework of speculative philosophical constructions to real positive knowledge of the world (Engels).

2. Attempts to construct a "new ontology" on an objective idealist basis have been made in the 20th century as a reaction to the spread of subjective idealist trends (see Neo-Kantianism, Positivism). In the new ontological doctrines ("transcendental ontology" of Husserl, q.v.; "critical ontology" of N. Hartmann, q.v., and "fundamental ontology" of Heidegger, q.v.), Ontology is regarded as a system of universal concepts of being conceived with the help of super-sensuous and super-rational intuition. The idea of the "new ontology" has been taken up by a number of Catholic philosophers, who are trying to "synthesise" the "traditional" Ontology coming from Aristotle with Kantian transcendental philosophy and to pit their own Ontology against the philosophy of dialectical materialism.[*]

A note by Kiatipis in Greek:

Σημείωση Κιατίπη:

Στο έργο μου «Η Ορθολογική Κοσμοθεώρηση», Τόμος Πρώτος «Εισαγωγή στην Ο.Κ.» το Πρώτο Μέρος λέγεται «Οντολογία». Στο μέρος αυτό αναπτύσσω τρία κεφάλαια:

Κεφάλαιο  1.1:  Το Αντικείμενο της Οντολογίας

Ο Υλικός Κόσμος - Η Αντικειμενική Πραγματικότητα

Τα Άβια, τα Έμβια και τα Νοήμονα Όντα

Κεφάλαιο  1.2:  Τα Επίπεδα Οργάνωσης της Ύλης

Αβιοσφαιρικά, Βιοσφαιρικά και Νοοσφαιρικά Συστήματα διαφορετικού μεγέθους και πολυπλοκότητας

Κεφάλαιο  1.3:  Διαλεκτικές Πορείες Ανάπτυξης

Ακτινωτή πορεία εξέλιξης στο ίδιο επίπεδο οργάνωσης και

Ανοδική πορεία εξέλιξης από ένα επίπεδο οργάνωσης στο επόμενο,

πιο πολύπλοκο επίπεδο οργάνωσης

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[*] Source: “A Dictionary of Philosophy”, Edited by M. Rosenthal and P. Yudin, Progress Publishers, Moscow 1967, page 324.