Introduction to Philosophy from an Ontological Perspective
Special Topics: Introduction to Philosophy from an Ontological Perspective (PHI 598). Fall 2024
Registration number:23030
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.
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
Course content, plus one additional closing lecture, can be found here.
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
