Introduction to Philosophy from an Ontological Perspective

The Course

This course consists in an overview of central themes in the history of philosophy viewed from an ontological perspective. We begin with a historical overview of analytic metaphysics and a discussion of general categories such as universals, particulars, processes, dispositions and functions. We then extend these general categories to specific areas such as social reality, documents and document acts, disease, money, and war. The course will be of interest not only to philosophers but also to those interested in ontological applications.

Department of Philosophy: Special Topics PHI 598. Registration number:

Time: Asynchronous on-line, Fall 2024

Room: N/A

Instructor: Barry Smith

Office hours: By appointment via email to [1]

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