POS_Ontology

In the philosophy of science, ontology primarily concerns:

• How experiments are designed

• What kinds of entities exist in scientific inquiry

• The moral use of scientific knowledge

• The historical timeline of discoveries

In a scientific context, ontology asks:

• Why theories change

• What exists and how it can be

• What is beautiful in science

• Who funds research

When economists speak of “the market,” ontology helps to clarify:

• The mathematical formulas used in analysis

• Whether the market is real or a conceptual model
  

• The policies regulating the market
  

• The ethics of business practices

In management studies, an ontological question could be:

• “What are the company’s profit margins?”

• “How can we increase market share?”

• “Is an organization a real entity or a collection of individuals?”

• “Who manages the accounting process?”

During the modern scientific revolution, ontology was largely focused on:

• Abstract ideals and metaphors

• Physical and measurable entities

• Moral and religious truths

• Aesthetic beauty of the universe

Behavioral economics changed the ontology of economics by:

• Ignoring human behavior

• Emphasizing bounded rationality and psychological realism

• Focusing only on mathematical models

• Rejecting the existence of markets

In management science, early theories viewed organizations as:

• Living organisms

• Socially constructed realities
  

• Machines or mechanistic systems
  

• Dynamic ecosystems

Metaphysics is broader than ontology because it deals with:

• Data collection and measurement

• The nature of reality as a whole
  

• Economic modeling techniques
  

• Employee productivity

An ontological question in economics would most likely be:

• “How can inflation be reduced?”

• “Do preferences and expectations exist as real forces?”

• “What are the fiscal policies of the government?”

• “Who controls market prices?”

In management, questioning whether employees have agency or are controlled by systems is an example of:

• A metaphysical dilemma
  

• A methodological issue

• An ontological inquiry

• A statistical problem