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In metaphysics (in particular, ontology), the different kinds or ways of being are called categories of being or simply categories. According to the Aristotelian tradition, a being is anything that can be said to be in the various senses of this word. Hence, to investigate the categories of being is to determine the most fundamental senses in which things can be said to be. A category, more precisely, is any of the broadest classes of things - 'thing' here meaning anything whatever that can be discussed and cannot be reduced to any other class.It is hoped, moreover, that a full account of the categories would be exhaustive. Sometimes ontological category schemes have included nonexistent or even impossible objects; Meinong, who thought we can talk unobjectionably about nonexistent objects such as the golden mountain, was an ontologist.
For example, what it means to take the category physical object seriously as a category of being is to assert that the concept of physical objecthood cannot be reduced to or explicated in any other terms - not, for example, in terms of bundles of properties. In this way, as it turns out, very many controversies of ontology can be understood as controversies about exactly which categories should be regarded as the (fundamental, irreducible, primitive) categories.
1 Aristotle's Categories
Category came into use with Aristotle; one of his treatises is called the Categories, discussing Substance, Quantity, Quality, Relation, Place, Time, Posture, State, Action, and Passion. Aristotle's particular list of categories is widely rejected nowadays, however, in part because the Aristotelian notion of substance has been widely rejected.
Aristotle's notion of substance is often rejected because of misunderstanding of his real meaning, which is that which exists of itself, not in another. With this understanding, to then deny that substance exists is to say that everything exists in another, which
in turn means nothing can exist. But things do exist, therefore one must admit there is at least one substance.
2 Categories of being
Philosophers have many differing views on what the fundamental categories of being are. In no particular order, here are at least some items that have been regarded as categories of being by someone or other:
2.1 Physical objects
Physical objects are beings; certainly they are said to be in the simple sense that they exist all around us. So a house is a being, a person's body is a being, a tree is a being, a cloud is a being, and so on. They are beings because, and in the sense that, they are physical objects. One might also call them bodies, or physical particulars, or concrete things, or maybe substances (but bear in mind the word 'substance' has some special philosophical meanings).
2.2 Minds
Minds -- those "parts" of us that think and perceive -- are beings. Each of us, according to common sense anyway, has a mind, which exists or has being. So each of our minds is a being. Of course, philosophers rarely just assume that minds occupy a different category of beings from physical objects. Some, like René DescartesRene Descartes ( IPA: rne. dekt) ( March 31, 1596 February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius worked as a philosopher and mathematician. While most notable for his groundbreaking work in philosophy, he has achieved wide fame as the inventor of the Cartesi, have thought that this is so (this view is known as dualismThe term dualism is the state of being dual, or having a twofold division. Dualism doctrine consists of two basic opposing elements. Generally it consists of any system which is founded on a double principle. The term dualism has several uses: Theological, and functionalismFunctionalism is a theory in philosophy developed as an answer to the mind-body problem because of objections to both identity theory and logical behaviourism. Its core idea is that the mental states can be accounted for without taking into account the un also considers the mind as distinct from the body), while others have thought that concepts of the mental can be reduced to physical concepts (this is the view of physicalismSee also the old text of this article Physicalism/Larry's text. Physicalism is the metaphysical position that everything is physical; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things. Likewise, physicalism about the mental is a positi or materialismThis article primarily focuses on the general concepts of matter and existence. For usage related to the prioritization of spending resources, see economic materialism. In one view, materialism expresses the view that the only thing that exists is matter;).
