---
title: "Ontology · Library · Simulation Hypothesis"
url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/ontology
description: "Ontology is the part of metaphysics about what exists and what kinds of things there are."
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)"
---

## Epistemology & reality

# Ontology

Definition

Ontology is the part of metaphysics about what exists and what kinds of things there are.

On this site

Whether the beings in a scenario exist is an ontological question. The computing figure takes no side on it.

Role in the model

The computing figure takes no side on whether the inhabitants of a scenario exist. It measures the computation and stops there. Whether a perfectly simulated person is a person is an ontological question. The sandbox only helps by showing what the simulation takes.

Related

[Base reality](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/base-reality)[Consciousness](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/consciousness)

## The people behind the terms

14 short pages, one per thinker, each with its matching dial. See also the [reading list](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/reading).

[Plato’s cave](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/plato)[Zhuangzi’s butterfly](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/zhuangzi)[Vasubandhu’s dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/vasubandhu)[Shankara’s māyā](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/shankara)[al-Ghazali’s doubt](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ghazali)[Ibn Arabi’s imagination](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ibn-arabi)[Calderón’s life is a dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/calderon)[Descartes’ demon](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/descartes)[Berkeley’s perceiver](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/berkeley)[Borges’ circular ruins](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/borges)[Nozick’s experience machine](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/nozick)[Putnam’s brain in a vat](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/putnam)[Bostrom’s trilemma](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/bostrom)[Chalmers: virtual worlds are real](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/chalmers)