A synonym of ontology is 'state of affairs'. Though the latter term often is used in a more flexible sense of both real and absurd imagination, to ask of the ontology of, say, roses is to ask 'what is the state of affairs which is rose-ness?' | A synonym of ontology is 'state of affairs'. Though the latter term often is used in a more flexible sense of both real and absurd imagination, to ask of the ontology of, say, roses is to ask 'what is the state of affairs which is rose-ness?' |