Open Journal of Philosophy, 2019, 9, 140-151 http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojpp ISSN Online: 2163-9442 ISSN Print: 2163-9434 DOI: 10.4236/ojpp.2019.92010 May 8, 2019 140 Open Journal of Philosophy Ontological Reflections on What There Is Matjaž Potrč 1 , Vojko Strahovnik 2* 1 Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2 Faculty of Theology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia Abstract Ontology is the name of the philosophical discipline that provides answers about what there is. The view laid out in the paper, i.e. austere realism, is re- alistic in that it defends the existence of a thought and language independent world. It is also inclined towards austerity in that it does not take this world to be as richly ontologically populated with entities as common sense initially presupposes. Yet it is a view that results from common sense taking a reflex- ive attitude about its ontological commitments. Despite its austere conse- quences, according to this view, many thoughts and sentences expressed by common sense are true, provided that truth is not considered as direct corre- spondence, i.e. not as the ultimate ontological correspondence to the world. This is enabled by the construal of truth as indirect correspondence that merges the world and contextually operative semantic standards. Such a combined ontological cum semantic view seems a plausible and a well de- fendable position. Keywords Austere Realism, Monism, Indirect Correspondence 1. Introduction: Inclusivist Approaches in Philosophy Philosophy has to do with several basic questions such as: What can I know? What should I do? What is there? The first of these questions is dedicated to knowledge and to a discipline investigating its forms and preconditions, episte- mology. The second question is responded by a theory of action if the deal is to clarify preconditions of one’s activity and by moral philosophy if the stress is put upon the appropriateness and moral correctness of one’s deeds. The third among the mentioned questions deals with the existence, with the world. The three mentioned questions are thus addressed by philosophical disciplines of epistemology, moral theory and ontology. There are several other areas of How to cite this paper: Potrč, M., & Stra- hovnik, V. (2019). Ontological Reflections on What There Is. Open Journal of Philos- ophy, 9, 140-151. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2019.92010 Received: March 29, 2019 Accepted: May 5, 2019 Published: May 8, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access