CHAPTER VI: ONTOLOGY

1. GENERAL METAPHYSICS / ONTOLOGY

Metaphysics as a term is derived from the two Greek words “meta” (meta) which means “beyond” or “after” and “physika” which literally mean “nature” (jusika). Thus, etymologically speaking, metaphysics is a study of all things which are beyond nature.

Really, metaphysics is defined as a Branch of philosophy concerned with providing a comprehensive account of the most general features of reality as a whole; the study of being as such, otherwise stated as the study of beings as being.

Ontology on one hand is defined as a branch of metaphysics concerned with identifying, in the most general terms, the kinds of beings that actually exist.

Thus, questions about the existence and nature of minds, bodies, God, space, time, causality, unity, identity, and the world are all metaphysical issues.

2. BEING

Being is that which exists or has the capacity of existence.

THE NOTION OF BEING
Being is the participle of the verb to be and means that which is or that which has to be or a thing having to be.

3. KINDS OF BEING

a. ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL BEING:
v Actual – that has actual existence in the real order. E.g. Philippines
v Potential – has the capacity of existing in the real order. E.g. Dragon

b. INFINITE AND FINITE BEING:
v Infinite Being – a being that possesses all perfections without limits. E.g. God
v Finite Being – are beings that possess perfection with certain limits. E.g. Created beings

c. NECESSARY AND CONTINGENT BEING:
v Necessary Being – that which is impossible for it not to exist. Its very nature requires the being to exist. E.g. God
v Contingent Being – is a being that exists and it would be possible for it not to exist. It very nature does not require it to exist. E.g. man

d. IMMUTABLE AND MUTABLE BEING
v Immutable Being – is that which is not subject to change. It possesses all actuality.
v Mutable being – being that can become another being or other than it is. It possesses actuality and potentiality. It is thus subject to change.

e. ETERNAL AND TEMPORAL BEING:
v Eternal Being – that which has no beginning and no ending and not subject to time.
v Temporal being – being that has beginning and it has no ending.

f. ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE BEING:
v Absolute Being – is that which is in itself sufficient and independent to anything else and is therefore capable being without reference to anything else.
v Relative Being – is that which has some reference to something and it cannot have being independently of that to which it is referred.


NOT UNDER REAL BEING
v Mental being – inside the mind and has the capacity to exist outside the mind.
v Logical being – purely in the mind.