The relationship between epistemology and ontology is often viewed as a complicated one. Epistemology looks at how humans use logic and gut feeling to form knowledge, while ontology asks questions about how people understand the world and justify its tangibility. Though these two subjects are directly related to each other and often overlap, they can also be studied exclusively. When the relationship between epistemology and ontology is examined by philosophers, they often discover that the two subjects push and pull against each other.

Epistemology is a very broad subject that often begins with the study of the cognitive process. It is important for philosophers to understand how everyday experiences are absorbed and processed by the brain. On the other side of epistemology are the intangible belief systems individuals create from their perceptions of those every day experiences. For instance, a young woman might believe her soccer team is going to win a particular game. She may have based this opinion on the fact that her team has been training hard and has won several games in a row this season. Her passion plus concrete information create a body of knowledge inside her mind.

Most of the relationship between epistemology and ontology has to do with how ontology interacts with epistemology. Ontology deals with existence and understanding why and how humans believe that they, and the world around them, are real. For instance, a young man believes that his cat is real because he can hold it and hear it purr. Epistemology comes into play here because the man has a belief that is supported by facts, which creates his knowledge of the situation. An ontologist might say that the man can’t know that the cat is real because he might only perceive it in his mind, meaning his knowledge may be flawed.

When studying the relationship between epistemology and ontology, students must understand that epistemology often makes assumptions, while ontology questions everything. In the above example of the young man and his cat, an epistemologist isn’t interested in whether or not the cat is real, but in the man’s perception of, and relationship to, the cat. Ontology takes the knowledge gleaned from epistemological study a step further by asking how the young man understands the knowledge he has created.

Most often, these two branches of philosophy are layered together, with one quickly following the other. As in the above examples, epistemology gathers information on thought and how it affects a person’s perception of truth. When ontology is thrown into the mix, it questions those perceived truths, which pushes knowledge further. While the knowledge is pushed further, so are the questions. This usually creates a loop between epistemology and ontology that doesn’t have a foreseeable ending.