The word ''ontology'' originally refers to a branch of metaphysics (in philosophy)
concerned with the nature of being or existence (i.e. what things can exist, and
what their nature is, etc). Not to be confused with ''epistemology'' which is
concerned with knowledge (i.e., what we can know e.g. about things that exist),
and the grounds for this knowledge.

In computer science and logic, ''an'' ontology has come to mean a description of
the objects and processes in a domain and their attributes and relations to one
another. The word is used informally to refer to any "''specification of a
conceptualization''" [http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html].
Various formal logics and other representations are used for formalising
ontologies, including [predicate logic] and [description logics].

The word often crops up in relation to the [semantic web].

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[[ [Category Glossary] ]]