Ontology — In Defence of a Word

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True — there are these pompous words thrown about by the self-important among us. Foreign words that like status symbols are meant to inspire awe in the innocent target. Polysyllables that become socially excluding when used outside a circle of initiates. Heteroscedasticity is fine for use among econometricians, but when discussing economics with ordinary mortals the word turns into audible arrogance.

Elegant Nonsense: Das seiende Sein — The Being of What Is

I used to think ontology was just such a word; academically speaking, ontology is the philosophical discipline that concerns itself with the analysis of what is. It is basically an effort to understand what makes us think that something is or is not part of reality.

I never liked Heidegger, the grand ontologist, not least because of the artificial language by which he seeks to make his thoughts appear like naturally arcane revelations promising to lift the ultimate from the deepest recesses of wisdom. Heideggereese is really just jargon, a load of cumbersome fat and fluff hiding the trivial conceits — like his dogmatic dislike of technology — of an authoritarian German narcissist. Heidegger has done much to alienate our intellectual curiosity from ontology, first by mystifying the process of ontological investigation in inordinate manner, and then increasingly, in less credulous times, by inviting the suspicion that it might be just a con or a joke. 

It is highly regrettable that our attention has been thus diverted from ontological questions, for they are among the most practically consequential issues we are confronted with.

Our willingness to accept certain concepts as being part of reality is the single most powerful force to drive human action, besides habit. Lurking behind any manifestation of human extremes and extremism is without fail some strong ontological belief, some ardent conviction about reality.

I recommend the terms ontology and ontological for admission into our daily vocabulary, because they are abbreviations handy in capturing pivotal human circumstances that we ought to be aware of and talk about more often then we tend to.

The Sane Man's Madness

Ontology drives business success. Ontology makes politics succeed. Ontology induces humans to pursue the most outstanding feats of ingenuity, perseverance, and radicalism. Ontology is the sane man's madness.

Will I ever kill my neighbour? No way. Unless, that is, I seem to know that he is going to kill me. Once that prospect has become part of what I consider reality, I am going to behave in a radically different, totally extreme, previously inconceivable way.

To dominate a person's ontology is to dominate that person like a puppet.

How could she have done something that cruel? She chopped his head of. Whenever flummoxed like that — think ontology. Ask yourself, what is reality to her? Extremists are — or I should better say: can be — normal people having adopted realities different from ours.

Ontological Power

So, one way of hitting it big in business/politics/personal relationships is to control part of what people recognise as being (their) reality.

People have an irresistible need to feel informed about reality, being told what reality is like and what lies outside of it. If you manage to become the source that provides them this information you have acquired about as much power over them as you can ever possess.

Some profession(al)s are sought after and handsomely remunerated essentially for acting as the source of what their willing and credulous clients feel they need to look upon as being reality. You hire Frank Lloyd Wright for him to tell you what is reality in an area that he is supposed to be a quasi divine sage and authority in. It is not always the quality of the information that you are paying for, often it is the authority that that person or institution can lend to their advice, their ability to ensure that "the buck stops here." Authority is stronger than mind. Authenticated reality overrides sober reason.

So, whenever you work on a business proposition, remember the importance of ontology — seek to ferret out the way in which your business model creates or interferes with the reality of your partners, stakeholders, and clients.