Ontology, Ontologies, and Science
This addresses the integration of philosophical ontology into empirical science, providing a framework for collaboration, but it is incremental as it builds on existing philosophical debates.
The paper distinguishes models of the relationship between philosophical and scientific ontology, advocating for a strong participation model where philosophers actively engage in science, and explores its requirements and consequences to justify and guide their role in empirical science.
Philosophers frequently struggle with the relation of metaphysics to the everyday world, with its practical value, and with its relation to empirical science. This paper distinguishes several different models of the relation between philosophical ontology and applied (scientific) ontology that have been advanced in the history of philosophy. Adoption of a strong participation model for the philosophical ontologist in science is urged, and requirements and consequences of the participation model are explored. This approach provides both a principled view and justification of the role of the philosophical ontologist in contemporary empirical science as well as guidelines for integrating philosophers and philosophical contributions into the practice of science.