- Intro
- Ontology
- Illusion
- Metaphilosophy
- Disaster
- Destiny
- Censorship
- Failure of Internationalism
- Fragmentation of Ontology
- Of the Abyss & the Void
- Disgusting Sexuality
- End of a War
- Micropolitics of Borders
- Metaphysical Implied Corporeal Hypothesis
- Tutankamon, The Son-King
- Acumen & Evil
- Emerging Fields
- With Us, Capitalism is Genocide
- From Zizians to Zizekians
Ontology is the relentless unveiling of what it means for anything—and everything—to be, the ceaseless attempt to articulate the fundamental structures undergirding existence and to recognize the shared horizon in which human beings encounter a world they simultaneously constitute and inhabit. Ontology is not merely a catalog of entities or a bare enumeration of concepts; instead, it is the ever-shifting philosophy of the conditions that allow meaning, time, and reality to intersect in the first place. In the context of Welt und Zeit, ontology becomes the lens through which we discern how the world stands forth before us, how time unfolds in the warp and weft of history, and how each of us stands out as a finite creature whose very limitations illuminate the horizon of possibility. It does not rest satisfied with an abstract statement about the nature of being; rather, it insists on being situated within the complexities of the present political reality, coursing together the pressing concerns of climate crisis, technological acceleration, and social fragmentation into a point that reveals being in its most urgent dimensions.
Ontology, thereby understood, explores how humanity, in the throes of new political upheavals and shifting alliances, navigates a terrain made precarious by cultural tensions and historical burdens. When we ask “What is the being of the world?” or “What does it mean to dwell authentically in time?” we inevitably confront how these questions are refracted through contemporary crises, from global health emergencies to deepening economic inequalities, from the intensification of nationalism to renewed calls for planetary cooperation. Consequently, ontology is not relegated to an austere, purely theoretical domain; it reverberates through each protest in the streets, each parliamentary debate over resource allocation, and each negotiation around the future of democracy. In this sense, ontology names the necessary framework that shapes the manifold ways we struggle over power, define collective identities, and envisage ethical responsibilities. Rather than ignoring these political tensions, ontology incorporates them as manifestations of what it means to be in a shared, though contested, world.
Ontology, in the continuation of In the Wake of Thought, discloses that every act of understanding presupposes not only a subject and an object, but also a historical, cultural, and existential background that enables comprehension in the first place. To reflect on this enabling background is to recognize that human beings are never merely isolated observers, standing outside a neutral tableau. Instead, we are participants, co-creators of reality, whose interpretations loop back to reshape the very environment we seek to understand. Ontology insists on highlighting this co-creative relationship, dislodging the illusion that the world and time flow independently of human engagement. In the pursuit of a deeper grasp of our engagement, it points to how the ecological crisis is not simply an external catastrophe but a reflection and the reification of the ways in which industrialization, resource extraction, and political decisions have inscribed themselves onto the living systems that support life. Thus, to define ontology is also to define this inextricable imbrication of being, knowledge, and worldliness: it is the fundamental domain in which the question “How shall we live?” attains its most radical urgency.
Ontology is the dimension that unveils time not as a linear succession of instants but as a layered experience, laden with personal memory, cultural traditions, technological rhythms, and cosmic expanses. Welt und Zeit, defining ontology, affirms that the intercourse of past, present, and future is infinitely more complex than a mere chronological progression. Human civilizations anchor themselves in traditions, myths, and inherited worldviews while simultaneously contending with the inescapable flow of novelty. The present moment—colored by geopolitical confrontations, populist sentiments, and the erosion of certain global norms—cannot be apprehended without acknowledging how these developments rest upon centuries-long trajectories of economic exploitation, domination, and historical trauma. Equally, they gesture toward uncertain futures shaped by advanced technologies that promise both transformation and peril. Ontology discloses that time is not a backdrop to political events; it is the very essence in which political action transpires, forging new realities as it draws upon the spectral residues of the past and the elusive horizons of the future.
Ontology casts light upon the corollary: the concept of world is not simply the aggregate of physical objects external to human cognition. Rather, world is the milieu in which meaning emerges, where institutions, languages, and human relationships coalesce to form a dynamic course of shared significance. In Welt und Zeit, ontology identifies world as an environment that is constantly shaped and reshaped by human actions—technological innovations, ecological alterations, cultural expansions—and simultaneously the matrix that sustains our actions in the first place. It is in the world that we discover the continuum that runs from personal identity to collective structures: an individual’s being is intelligible only against the backdrop of a communal horizon of sense. The unprecedented connectivity of our digital age, for instance, reconfigures how we perceive national boundaries, interpersonal relationships, and the velocity of cultural exchange. Ontology, in this regard, engages the extent to which such technological mediation transforms our fundamental mode of being, reflecting and refracting the historical conditions in which we find ourselves.
Ontology therefore does not isolate itself from the immediacy of present global tensions, including military conflicts, humanitarian crises, and the rise of certain authoritarian regimes. Instead, it points out that any such conflict is always animated by deeper assumptions about what is real, what is valuable, and what is possible. Whether we examine electoral discourse or grassroots demonstrations, we witness competing ontologies: distinct ways of defining reality, distinct modes of structuring time, distinct conceptions of identity and community. That these standpoints so often clash is given tongue to the multiplicity of ways in which being can be interpreted. Ontology, as the horizon of these interpretations, demands that we remain receptive to the inescapable plurality of human worldviews, while not neglecting the possibility—indeed, the necessity—of seeking common ground. For only by acknowledging the ontological depth of our disagreements do we stand a chance of transcending purely superficial debates and forging a more substantial path toward coexistence.
Ontology likewise confronts the question of finitude, the inescapable awareness that human existence is bounded, both individually (through mortality) and collectively (through the fragility of civilizations in the face of ecological catastrophe or systemic collapse). In Welt und Zeit, this confrontation with finitude drives home the point that time, far from being an indefinite expanse, is replete with urgency. The planet’s resources are not inexhaustible, nor are the social fabrics that bind societies together immune to decay. Thus ontology, taken seriously, reframes political and ethical commitments in light of our precarious dwelling. It reveals that to be is to be vulnerable, to be susceptible to harm, to be reliant on cooperative networks—be they familial, communal, economic, or international—for basic survival. Once we integrate this recognition of finitude into our worldview, the impetus to address global issues such as climate change, pandemic preparedness, and the pursuit of social justice becomes not simply a moral preference but an ontological imperative, rooted in the very conditions of our shared being.
Ontology also illuminates the creative dimension of human presence, for being is not static. Human existence is defined by possibility, the capacity to shape the future through collective decisions, inventions, and imaginative leaps. In that sense, the leaps in artificial intelligence or genetic engineering exemplify not just technical achievements but expansions of our ontological horizon. We are reconfiguring the parameters of what it means to be human, opening new avenues of potential while also exposing ourselves to unprecedented ethical dilemmas and uncertainties about the fate of autonomy and agency. Ontology demands that we grapple with these dilemmas at their most basic level: what transformations to human nature or society can we justify, and what do we risk sacrificing in their pursuit? No mere ethical or practical calculus suffices unless we clarify the underlying assumptions about the nature of being itself. Indeed, if we see the human as merely a mutable set of data points, we arrive at a different outcome than if we regard human beings as bearers of inherent dignity, endowed with a transcendental quality that demands respect and protection. Ontology makes us see that such assumptions guide our judgments about what is permissible, what is sacred, and what is forsaken.
Ontology, engaged through all these dimensions, can be approached as a disciplined reflection on openness, revealing that existence is never fully captured by a fixed system of concepts. Each time we attempt to finalize an ontological claim, the shifting historical and existential conditions demand a re-examination. Welt und Zeit charges this perpetual process of unveiling, as it calls upon us to reevaluate world and time in light of new events—political disruptions, unforeseen technological applications, and the slow accumulation of environmental damage that challenges the viability of countless lifeforms. The accent on openness ensures that ontology is not a rigidly dogmatic enterprise but rather an ongoing task of thinking, a project that remains ever incomplete because the being it seeks to define is dynamic and evolving. Thus, ontology persists as the impetus to question, to interpret, and to critically assess, to intercourse the frameworks we inherit and transform, knowing that such questioning is the hallmark of a life in pursuit of understanding.
Ontology, therefore, refuses to let us rest in comfortable illusions of progress or retreat into nostalgic visions of a mythic past. It discloses that every historical epoch, including our own, is shot through with tensions—between fragmentation and unity, between tradition and innovation, between despair and hope. These tensions are not merely peripheral but cut to the heart of what it means to exist at a particular time, in a particular place, with particular others. Whether individuals acknowledge it or not, they find themselves entangled in a web of intense relationships that configure their being-in-the-world. Ontology supplies the conceptual tools to see that these entanglements, while inevitably conflicting, are also the fertile ground for ethical and creative possibilities. By retaining a vigilant sense of how our forms of life derive from certain assumptions about being, we become more capable of transforming them in directions that might foster greater life, achievement, and bonding flourishing.
Ontology further illuminates the act of communication, suggesting that every conversation is rooted in a shared but not necessarily uniform understanding of what is real and possible. In the political sphere, this fact is often forgotten as polemics overshadow deeper discussions about how different groups conceive of reality itself. Yet ontology reminds us that speech and action are never empty gestures; they emerge from, and shape in return, the ways we inhabit world and time. This is evident in the sphere of international relations, where distinct cultures bring different experiences of colonial legacies, religious traditions, or philosophical canons. Ontology foregrounds the fact that genuine cooperation—and genuine disagreement—depends on acknowledging this multiplicity of backgrounds and the ontological commitments embedded therein. Insofar as Welt und Zeit is dedicated to examining the power of being, history, and communal formation, it invites us to engage with global complexities at their ontological root, rather than confining ourselves to surface-level political strategies or rhetorical flourishes.
Ontology is the all-encompassing endeavor to lay bare the underpinnings of existence, to articulate how time and world coalesce in shaping and being shaped by the myriad expressions of human life. Insofar as this new work, World & Time, or Welt und Zeit, is a continuation of In the Wake of Thought, it carries forward the conviction that philosophy must remain intimately bound up with contemporary struggles. It confronts us with the realization that each new crisis—be it environmental, technological, or socio-political—compels us to revise and reanimate our understanding of being. Instead of closing the door on philosophy, ontology prods us to face these disruptive transformations at their source, recognizing that the meaning of world and time is not pre-given but must be forged in the heat of historical events. This forging does not happen apart from us; we are the agents and the bearers of being, fragile yet capable of insight, driven by the necessity to interpret a reality that unceasingly demands our response, no matter how weak or strong.
Ontology, by its very nature, affirms that reality is more than the sum of its measurable components. It upholds the irreducibility of lived experience, intersubjective relations, and the existential weight of choice. World & Time, as a philosophical enterprise, is thus an extended definition of ontology: a risk to illuminate the hidden architectures of existence, to trace the subtle force of memory and anticipation, and to confront the moral imperatives that arise when we acknowledge our collective power and vulnerability. In doing so, ontology reveals itself as an unending task—one that demands the full breadth of human capacities for reflection, dialogue, and responsible innovation. We stand on the precipice of transformations that may redefine what it means to dwell on this planet, or to live at all, to extend or reinvent the boundaries of life, or to recalibrate the relationships between peoples and nations. Ontology is the discipline that tells us we cannot avert our gaze from these seismic shifts, for they emanate from the depths of being itself.
Ontology is therefore not just one branch of philosophy among others; it is the fundamental leap that underlies every question of knowledge, ethics, politics, and art. It is the continuous effort to clarify the nature of what is, so that we might better navigate the uncertain paths of what may yet come. Welt und Zeit builds on this effort by situating it squarely in our age of global crises, urging us to reflect upon our entanglement in accelerating histories and contested futures. Far from an aloof metaphysical abstraction, ontology is the very crucible in which human existence takes shape, unveiling the essential nature of our capacities for creation, destruction, cooperation, and reflection. To write of World & Time ontologically is to write of the delicate yet resolute project of understanding ourselves as force and our world in terms that honor the infinite variety and inexhaustible depth of being, being as such, knowing full well that no final resolution of these reflections is ever easily ready at hand.
Thus, ontology stands as the central starting point of Welt und Zeit, a ceaseless engagement with the question of how the world manifests itself to us, how time is experienced within that manifestation, and how, by interpreting these twin aspects, we might respond to the immediate crises of our era in a manner that remains ethically and philosophically awake. Ontology perseveres in exposing that the real is not merely discovered but constituted through human endeavor; it outlines the hidden resonance between our conceptual frameworks and the structures of existence that we strive to comprehend. Always partial, perpetually open to continuation, ontology designates the creative space in which World & Time—the beginning of a work that draws upon the heritage of In the Wake of Thought—fulfills its purpose, bringing the question of being into direct dialogue with the tremors, conflicts, failures and aspirations that define our epoch. Through ontology, we discover that to interpret world and time is inevitably to interpret ourselves, to unearth the wellspring of meaning that emerges when reflective beings grapple with the very core of reality and find that core inseparable from their own finite yet formidable presence.
Simon Gros 
Leave a comment