PeteJ wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2019 1:21 pm
RCSaunders wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:13 pm
Ontology is the branch of metaphysics which deals specifically with the nature of material existence.
Material existence is all that exists independently of anyone's knowledge or awareness.
Not quite. Ontology is the study of what exists, whether it be physical or mental. It does not take the existence of anything for granted and is not able to establish the mind-independent existence of anything.
I think what you're describing is 'Ontology for materialists'.
The second paragraph reads:
Material existence is all that exists independently of anyone's knowledge or awareness. "Independent of" does not mean separate from, but, "whether or not anyone knows or is aware of that existence." Material existence includes what is usually referred to as, "physical existence," which is all that we can directly perceive and is the subject of the physical sciences. It also includes life, consciousness, and the human mind, which also exist independently of anyone's knowledge or awareness, but are not physical. (Of course no consiousness or mind exists independently of the one whose conciousness and mind they are.)
I have carefully defined what I mean by material existence. I do not equate physicalism and materialism and regard the physical a subset of the material. If by, 'Ontology for materialists,' you mean ontology for those who understand there is nothing mystical or supernatural behind existence and that existence is not contingent on anything else, you may call it that.
This article is only an, "Ontology Introduction." Subsequent articles, "The Nature Of Life," "The Nature Of Consciousness," "The Nature of Mind," and "An Analogy, From Physical To Mind," will address the other aspects of material existence.
I have introduced those articles in my latest article: "
The Physical, Life, Consciousness, and The Human Mind—A Preface."