1. The term. The term “ontology” is first found in R. Goclenius (Lexicon Philosophicum, 1613). The usage spread (J. Clauberg, Metaphysica de Ente [1656], J. B. Du Hamel [1678]), and came to be a technical term in philosophy through the writings of C. Wolff (Philosophia prima sive ontologia [1729]). According to its Greek components (τὸ ὄν, λόγος), it means the doctrine about that which is.

2. All sciences treat of beings, since they take various realms of beings and investigate them under certain aspects. But ontology differs from all other sciences insofar a…