A branch of philosophy that studies what exists and the basic kinds of things that make up reality; in computing, a structured way of describing categories and relationships in a specific area.
From Greek "onto-" meaning "being, that which is" and "-logy" meaning "study of." It literally means "the study of being."
Ontology asks questions so basic they seem strange, like "What kinds of things are real—numbers, minds, fictional characters?" Computer scientists borrowed the word to mean a rigorous map of "what exists" inside a specific domain, like medicine or biology.
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