It is the fundamental question to all Western thought. It was asked by the Great Greek Philosopher Aristotle as he began his monumental work the "Organon" which is a collection of philosophical writings that established western thought and was not equaled in two thousand years.

Very simply it means What is Being? Ov (or on as it transliterates to English) means Being or Ovta the existent. And he poses the question:

"What is Being"

as the root question in all philosophy and science. Which it is.

Aristotle's organon ruled the intellectual world for twenty centuries and his logic was not equaled until the nineteenth century, at least in the West.

The question stands at the foundation of all intellectual pursuits in the Western world.

There is no single mind that has influenced western thought more than Aristotle. He is perhaps the greatest thinker ever, unless his mentor still surpassed him, he being Aristedes or as we have come to know him as Plato.

Unfortunately we live in an anti-intellectual period in human history and Aristotle's greatness is little noted today even though we use hundreds of words and modes of thought established by him that are deeply embedded into our way of thinking and expression. As for example the words Action, Potential, Organism and hundreds of others are due to this one man that lived three hundred years before the birth of Christ.

I'll try to keep it short. In Greek: 'ti' meaning 'what' and 'to on' meaning 'being'. There is no direct translation to English. However, I am of the opinion that the translation of 'ti to on' as 'What are beings?' is false and misleading, as we can see in the English word 'ontology' meaning 'the study of being'. It is not the study of a being (or beings), but simply being, existing. A more correct translation would be 'What is there?' or What is existent?' or even 'What really exists?' If all you care about is the definition, stop reading now.

This was a question asked by what I consider to be the Giants of Philosophy. Yes, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were the Great Ones, but the Giants were the ones who came just before them, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Pythagoras (yes the math guy), Anaxamander, Anaxagoras. These men were the first to throw off the chains which had bound man's intellect for a million years (whether those chains be belief in God-like kings or king-like Gods or in the case of the poor clueless prehistoric man who witnesses a lightning bolt up close and personal: magic. SCARY magic) to grapple with the concepts of divinity, eternity, infinity, the Absolute, and even the immortal soul. 'Ti to on?' 'What is there?' 'To on' was also synonymous with 'Arche' meaning 'Infinite, limitless, First Principle, First Cause.'

Socrates answer was Truth, Beauty, Justice, but this only led to 'Ti este?' 'What is it?' What is truth, beauty, justice? Which led to Platos 'Ti este episteme?' 'What is knowledge?' Aristotle answered all three questions like this: 'Heck if I know, but if I ever do, it will only be through intelligence, reasoning, and rational thought (logos). And by the way, that's the only way to achieve true happiness in life, too.' And I said I was going to keep it short.

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