up:: Ontology Vs Taxonomy
Ontology
Tawḥidic epistemology — that is, knowledge as a single, divinely unified order, not as compartmentalized “religious” and “secular” categories. The MOC is structured to map classical, modern, and comparative ontologies, while embedding the Islamic metaphysical centre: Allah as al-Ḥaqq (The Real) — and consciousness as rooted in khalīfah, ʿubūdiyyah, and tazkiyah.
Ontology
Ontology asks: What is being? What kinds of things exist? But from a Tawḥidic perspective, we begin not with “what exists” but with who gives existence — i.e. al-Wājib al-Wujūd (the Necessary Existent), Allah. All “ontology” must be derived from and return to the Oneness of Being (Wujūd).
Islamic Ontology (Tawḥidic)
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Al-Wājib al-Wujūd (The Necessary Existent – Allah)
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Khalq (Creation) – dependent wujūd
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Insān (Human ontology as ʿabd and khalīfah)
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Fitrah – primordial disposition
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Nūr Muḥammadī – the First Creation
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Levels of Being – e.g. ʿĀlam al-Mulk, ʿĀlam al-Malakūt, ʿĀlam al-Jabarūt (cosmic ontologies)
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Wujūdiyya vs Shuhūdiyya – debates in Sufi ontology
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Taḥqīq – the realization of Being through Tazkiyah
Western Ontology
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Being and Essence (Heidegger, Aquinas)
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Substance Dualism – Plato, Descartes
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Existential Ontology – Sartre, Heidegger
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Materialism – reduction of being to matter
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Phenomenology – Husserl, Merleau-Ponty
Comparative Ontology
Hindu Ontology
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Advaita Vedanta – Non-dual Brahman, illusion of multiplicity (Māyā)
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Dvaita Vedanta – Dualism between Īśvara and Jīvātman
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Sāṃkhya – Purusha (spirit) and Prakriti (matter) dualism
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Trika Shaivism – Unity of Śiva (consciousness), Śakti (energy), and Nāda/Bindu (manifestation)
Ontology is the self-revelation of Absolute Consciousness. Creation is a “play” (līlā).
Christian Ontology
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Trinitarian Being – God as three hypostases (Father, Son, Spirit)
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Essence and Energies – particularly in Orthodox theology
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Theosis – participatory ontology (man becomes divine by grace)
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Creatio Ex Nihilo – contrast with Islamic kun fa-yakūn
Buddhist Ontology
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Śūnyatā – Emptiness of inherent being
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Dependent Origination – being as interrelated events
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Non-Self (Anatta) – rejection of eternal soul
Ontology of Consciousness
This links directly to the balloon analogy you mentioned, used to describe the soul and identity. Here’s how it maps across traditions:
| System | God | Human Consciousness | Ontological Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tawḥid (Islam) | al-Ḥaqq (Pure, singular, non-composite Being) | Ruḥ blown from Allah (nafakhtu fīhi min rūḥī) | Dependent existence (wujūd ʿārid), servitude (ʿabd) |
| Trinitarianism | Triune God (One essence, three persons) | Imago Dei; Potential for Theosis (divinization) | Human shares in divine image |
| Trika Shaivism | Śiva (Universal Consciousness) | Cit (awareness) – individual is Śiva | Reality is a play of awareness – identity is cosmic |
| Advaita Vedanta | Nirguṇa Brahman (impersonal) | Ātman = Brahman (non-dual identity) | Multiplicity is illusion (Māyā) |
Modern Ontological Debates
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Post-Structuralist Ontology – Deleuze, Derrida
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Process Philosophy – Whitehead (being is becoming)
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Panpsychism – consciousness as fundamental
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Digital Ontology – Simulation theory, data-as-reality
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Artificial Intelligence and Ontology – can machines have being?
wikipedia/en/Ontology_(information_science)
In computer science and information science, an ontology encompasses a representation, formal naming, and definition of the categories, properties, and relations between the concepts, data, and entities that substantiate one, many, or all domains of discourse. More simply, an ontology is a way of showing the properties of a subject area and how they are related, by defining a set of concepts and categories that represent the subject.