Editing Theory of categories (section)

{{Short description|In ontology, the highest kinds or genera of entities}}
{{Distinguish|Category theory}}

In [[ontology]], the '''theory of categories''' concerns itself with the ''categories of being'': the highest ''genera'' or ''kinds of entities''.<ref name="Thomasson2">{{cite web |last1=Thomasson |first1=Amie |title=Categories |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/categories/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=4 January 2021 |date=2019}}</ref> To investigate the categories of being, or simply '''categories''', is to determine the most fundamental and the broadest [[class (philosophy)|class]]es of entities.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mcdaniel |first1=Kris |title=A Return to the Analogy of Being |journal=Philosophy and Phenomenological Research |date=2010 |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=688–717 |doi=10.1111/j.1933-1592.2010.00378.x |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2010.00378.x |language=en |issn=1933-1592}}</ref> A distinction between such categories, in making the categories or applying them, is called an '''ontological distinction'''. Various systems of categories have been proposed, they often include categories for [[Substance (philosophy)|substances]], [[Property (philosophy)|properties]], [[Relations (philosophy)|relations]], [[states of affairs]] or [[Event (philosophy)|events]].<ref name="Sandkühler2">{{cite book |last1=Sandkühler |first1=Hans Jörg |title=Enzyklopädie Philosophie |date=2010 |publisher=Meiner |url=https://meiner.de/enzyklopadie-philosophie.html |chapter=Ontologie: 4 Aktuelle Debatten und Gesamtentwürfe |access-date=2021-01-14 |archive-date=2021-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311040207/https://meiner.de/enzyklopadie-philosophie.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Borchert2">{{cite book |last1=Borchert  |first1=Donald |title=Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd Edition |date=2006 |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/MONMEO-3 |chapter=Ontology}}</ref> A representative question within the theory of categories might articulate itself, for example, in a query like, "[[Problem of universals|Are universals prior to particulars?]]"