Introduction to Philosophy from an Ontological Perspective

Special Topics PHI 598. Registration number:

Instructor: Barry Smith

Office hours: By appointment via email to [1]

1 credit-hour asynchronous online course for masters-level students and advanced undergraduates. No backgroud in philosophy or ontology is presupposed.

Fall 2024

The Course

This course provides an introduction to central themes in the history of philosophy viewed from an ontological perspective. The course is designed to be of interest to both philosophers and those with a background in computer and information science. Topics treated will include:

1. a brief history of ontology from Aristotle to the Human Genome Project.

2. the ontology of social reality

3. ontology leaving the mother ship of philosophy

4. why computer science needs philosophy

5. the Semantic Web

6. towards a standard top-level ontology

7. ontology and the Federal Government Data Integration Initiative (anno 2009)

8. the meaning of life

Recommended background reading

R. Arp, B. Smith, A. D. Spear, Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology

John R. Searle, Making the Social World

E. J. Lowe, The Four Category Ontology

Roman Ingarden, The Literary Work of Art. An Investigation on the Borderlines of Ontology, Logic, and Theory of Language